Crossing Boundaries
by Yua-hime
Summary: When an old man and clock digimon show up in the park one evening while Daisuke is making his way home, the Chosen Children of more than one world and time will be gathered to help defeat the ultimate enemy - Quartzmon. This is the Legendary Heroes look on things from their gathering to their farewells.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Okay, so this is the prologue (as you can see) and the first chapter, should be updated with it. I don't know why I feel the need to add a prologue, seperate from the first chapter, especially one as short as this, but that's just me. For those of you that want to know, this story will be about thirteen chapters long, pus have a prologue (that's what you're reading now ;P) and an epilogue, so fifteen chapters total. I expect the epilogue to be much shorter than the rest of the chapter, which is why it's not counted as an actual chapter.**

**I don't know how well the characterization for the Old Clock Shop Man and Clockmon are. I don't know them very well. This is a warning for the entire story. The same warning goes for all of my other characterization. It is likely to be a little different from what is seen on the show. Some of that is on purpose, as I like to show different sides of the characters, that aren't really explored much in the show or are ignored by a lot of Authors (no offense meant to those Authors). This being said, constructive criticism is very welcome. If you want to me to tone down or show a little more of an emotion or character trait, I'll be glad to take it into consideration. If you don't like the characterization period, you're better off with another story, because a lot of the way they act I do on purpose. if you simply want to know my reasoning for the characters acting the way they do, I'll be glad to tell you, if you let me know.**

**For anyone who was reading my Harry Potter story "The Beginning of Everything", I have _not_ abandoned it. It was taken down due to violating fanfiction guidelines (oops!), but I was planning on taking it down and revising it anyway. I have a way that might work and allow me to not violate any guidelines, but it will take me some time to get it into gear. I am still working on it, though, and hopefully the revised version won't take too long or be too confusing (if it is confusing, I'll have to figure out a different way to get my story across).**

**Now that I have finished this ridiculously long Author's note, I will let you get on with the story after this brief disclaimer.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon Adventure, Adventure 02, Tamers, Frontier, Savers, or Fusion or any of their plot and characters. They are the property of Toei Animation and Akiyoshi Hongo. This was made purely for entertainment and does not receive any profit.**

* * *

**Prologue: The Mysterious Man and Clock. Jump to the Next Dimension!**

"Clockmon, it's time to go," a short old man said. He wore a green visor with a yellow gear and blue clock hands on it, a red t-shirt, an open green over shirt with the sleeves rolled up over the elbows, and blue jean shorts. He also had a cane and some round sun glasses. His choice in clothing made him look like he was trying to be "young and hip" as one like himself might say and it had earned him the title of "eccentric old man", though most new him as "The Old Clock Shop Man".

"Chichichichi. Okay ~!" The large clock like digimon with arms and legs said. The clock hands on it's body began to spin in opposite directions. An orange glyph appeared below them and it cast an eerie glow on the walls of the Alley Way they stood in. It was made of a thick outer circle and a thinner inner circle. In between the two circles were Ancient Digiscript symbols and in the center was what appeared to be a clock face, though it only had two hands of the same length and instead of twelve numbers there were about fifty different symbols.

The Old Clock Shop Man held up a black and gray rectangular device and and called out, "Eaonep, Eageta eafo Eadsnoitnemi."

Once the incantation was complete the glyph began to glow more brightly. It lifted into the air to surround the two and began to spin. The two circles of the glyph began to spin in opposite directions – the outer circle went right and the inner circle went left. Then the circles rose up and over, once again in opposite directions, and spun over and under the two. The digiscript began to float around them. The clock face stayed stationary, but the hands began to move until they had stopped on two different symbols; three circles connected in a line and a circle with a dot in the center and a long slender triangle pointing upwards with a line on either side that curled outwards at the ends.

It wasn't long before the surrounding area disappeared, falling away like the pieces of a puzzle to show what's underneath. The new space was like they were floating in the cosmos. The stars, the planets and the nebula flew past them at unimaginable speeds causing the colors to mingle and dance together as if their mixing was only natural – and then it was all over and a knew world was piecing itself together. The glow of the circle dimmed and then disappeared altogether and the two found themselves standing amongst some trees in the dark.

"We have arrived. We must find the child and his group, quickly and be on our way. We don't want to cause more of a disruption here than we already have," the Old Clock Shop Man said as he began making his way towards a park about twenty feet away from their location.

"Right!'' Clockmon said as he followed the old man.

* * *

**A/N: Okie dokie, the next chapter should be up right now. I hope you enjoyed.**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: And here's the first actual chapter! I really hope you enjoy it. It ended up being _way_ longer than I meant it to be (it pretty much doubled) and at the rate things are going right now, it looks like the other chapters are going to be about the same, possibly longer. They could possibly be shorter, but I won't let any of them (except for the prologue and epilogue) get under 5,000 words. I do hope you enjoy. Constructive criticism is welcome and encouraged. Also I do not have a beta for this, so any and all mistakes are my own. I try and make sure there aren't any, but nobody's perfect.**

**Disclaimer: **** I do not own Digimon Adventure, Adventure 02, Tamers, Frontier, Savers, or Fusion or any of their plot and characters. They are the property of Toei Animation and Akiyoshi Hongo. This was made purely for entertainment and does not receive any profit.**

* * *

**Chapter 1: Another Great Adventure? Future and Past Meet!**

Daisuke was walking home with Chibimon after a rather long meeting with the other Chosen Children. Even after everything that had happened, which had only been a couple of weeks ago, the world was still trying to keep to the belief that digimon didn't exist. They kept saying that everything that had happened was the work of terrorists and delusions. Nobody was even taking notice that the same things had happened all over the world, too concerned with their own countries to really care.

Of course, the Chosen Children didn't really mind this even if they did still have to hide their digimon. They knew, as unfortunate as it was, that the human governments were likely to want to use the digimon or destroy them and the Chosen Children couldn't allow something like that to happen. It was their job after all to protect the digital world even if that meant protecting it from the human race.

Fortunately all of their parents knew what was going on, so at least they didn't have to hide their partners in their own homes. It would also come in handy if they didn't have to come up with a camping trip excuse or something of the like the next time they needed to stay in the digital world for a few days. Unfortunately it wouldn't get Daisuke out of a talking to, even if it wasn't his fault that the meeting had lasted until eleven o'clock.

Daisuke had really wanted to stay at the Yagami's, because it would have made things so much easier, but when he had called, his parents had said 'no'. They had decided that Chibimon was perfectly capable of seeing Daisuke home safely and they wanted to discuss a few things, now that it had finally sunk in that their child was responsible for saving the world.

Daisuke sighed. '_Oh well_,' he thought, '_There's nothing I can really do about it_.'

"Daisuke," Chibimon called to his partner and Daisuke looked down at him questioningly. Chibimon pointed towards the park, which was just up ahead where the two could see a very faint orange glow before it disappeared. "What was that?"

"I have no idea," Daisuke said looking at where the light had just been shining before he ran towards it, "But we're gonna find out."

Daisuke ran to the park and looked around. There wasn't anything visible from the sidewalk, so he decided to walk further in. He was at the center of the park where the swings and jungle gym were, when he saw something move just beyond the trees at the back of the park. He stared at the spot for a moment, but didn't see anything there. He was just about to play it off as his imagination when he saw two shadowy figures making their way out of the trees.

Daisuke tensed a little and held Chibimon, who was about ready to jump from his arms to defend him, a little closer. These guys could be complete creeps and while he did have a digimon, he didn't attack humans. Although, he supposed, if they attacked him and tried to hurt him, Chibimon would attack, whether they were digimon or not. It was comforting when he thought about it, because he never had to worry about being mugged even if they were trying to hide their digimon. Of course Daisuke knew some of the others, like Iori and Miyako, wouldn't see it quite the same way.

Despite these thoughts, Daisuke didn't try to leave. He felt that he needed to be here. It was a feeling he was rather familiar with. He had felt it several times before, like somebody was telling him he was alright and that this was important. It was the Digital World, or at least had something to do with the Digital World, because he'd only ever felt it when the Digital World was involved. It had never steered him wrong before, so he wasn't about to ignore it now.

Daisuke watched the figures as they approached and noticed that they were about the same height, though the one in the back was wider. The reason for this became apparent when the moonlight hit the two and revealed what they looked like. The one in the front was a very old man wearing worn out clothes, a really weird hat with a clock like design, and round red sunglasses. The other figure was a giant alarm clock with arms and legs and of course, hands and feet too.

A digimon. Daisuke knew this would involve the Digital World somehow. Although why it was with the old guy was a mystery to him. Were they partners perhaps? But that couldn't be, because all of the Chosen Children were still in their teens... Unless he was a member of the first group of Chosen Children that Taichi had told him about. Even then, though, you would think they would have run into him sooner than now, especially with all of the digimon attacks that had happened in the last few years.

"I wasn't expecting to find you so soon," The old man said, sounding surprised.

"Er... You were looking for me?" Daisuke asked confusedly. Even if he was a part of the original Chosen Children, he shouldn't have known who Daisuke was. Chibimon was with him, sure, but the way the old man had said it was as if he had been looking for Daisuke specifically.

"Yes. Although I have just arrived, so I hadn't begun looking yet," he said as he and the clock like digimon stopped a few feet away from Daisuke and Chibimon.

"Who are you!? What do you want with Daisuke!?" Chibimon had caught onto the strange inflection in the old man's voice when he had said he was looking for them, too, and was perfectly prepared to protect his partner.

"Most people call me the Old Clock Shop Man, but that's a bit long, so you may call me Kuroku," the newly dubbed Kuroku said before pointing towards the digimon. "This is Clockmon, my partner."

"Does that mean that you're one of the original Chosen Children? I know there were some before Taichi-sempai and the others, but nobody really knows how long ago that was," Daisuke asked curiously.

"No, I am not a Chosen Child at all."

"Eh!? But you just said that he's your partner..." Daisuke said pointing towards Clockmon.

"I did."

"Would you just give a straight answer!" Daisuke yelled as he started to get irritated. He wondered if this was how Taichi and the others felt when they had to talk to Gennai during their adventure.

"Yeah, and you never answered what you wanted with Daisuke!" Chibimon yelled just as irritated as his partner.

"Ha ha ha ha! That is quite true, but that is a rather long and complicated matter, so perhaps we should sit down," Kuroku said and made his way over to the jungle gym and sat down on one of it's lower bars. Clockmon was right beside him, but decided to stand.

Daisuke frowned and vaguely remembered that he was supposed to be home and his parent were probably going to be really mad, but decided that this was more important. He sat down on one of the benches that faced the jungle gym and placed Chibimon on his lap, though he did loosen his grip on the little digimon. He wasn't a complete idiot, like most people seemed to think. He understood that if things went south he would definitely need Chibimon. Not that he really believed things would go badly, but just in case...

"Are you sure Daisuke?" Chibimon asked as he watched the two strangers warily. He knew Daisuke wasn't stupid, but he also knew he was very trusting and very forgiving. Daisuke was always the first to trust someone and the first one to forgive a person for past wrongs. He made friends easily, or at least he considered them his friends, and then he held onto them very tightly. These were all good traits. They made Daisuke who he was, but they also made him more vulnerable. If the people that you trusted and thought of as friends ended up betraying you, it wasn't such a good thing.

Chibimon knew Daisuke was strong, but there was only so much someone could take. Everything had turned out well with Ken, but there had been other times when it hadn't been okay. If things turned out badly here, it was Chibimon who had to deal with the aftermath. He didn't want to see the sad look in Daisuke's eyes; the look that he always got when he felt betrayed. Chibimon would do anything to make sure that Daisuke's smile didn't leave, because any other expression just didn't fit. He knew he had help in that regard, too, because Ken wanted to protect Daisuke just as much as Chibimon, and Taichi and Yamato looked out for him too. Thinking about this made him feel better about everything, because he knew there were others that would help look after Daisuke and beat the crap out of this person (and digimon) if they hurt him in any way.

"Of course, Chibimon," Daisuke said, breaking Chibimon from his thoughts. "I think we can trust him."

"Okay," Chibimon said, deciding all he could do was trust Daisuke's judgment.

"Don't worry. I don't plan on doing anything other than tell my story and request your help."

"Our help?" Daisuke asked.

"Yes. I need your help and the help of the other Chosen Children of your generation, although I need your help more than theirs."

"Why?"

"That's what I'm about to explain. I would prefer if there were no interruptions," Kuroku waited for Daisuke and Chibimon to nod in acceptance before he continued. "Now, I can't tell you everything right now. It is very confusing and there are others that need to hear the whole story and I'd rather not tell it – and I'm sure you'd rather not hear it – five times over.

"What I can tell you is that I am from another dimension –'' Kuroku held up his hand to stave off any questions when he saw Daisuke open his mouth. Daisuke snapped his mouth shut and smiled sheepishly, "– I am sure that you do not need convincing of other worlds. You already know of three other worlds, besides your human one. What you may not know is that there are many other worlds and dimensions in existence; many other human worlds and digital worlds. I come from one such world, which is connected to it's own digital world. Unfortunately there is a very powerful enemy trying to destroy our world and digital world; an enemy that cannot be defeated by our own heroes. That is why we have come to you for your help.

"Now I understand that you have your own human world and Digital world to protect, but if Quartzmon – that is our enemy – succeeds in his plans it will affect all the worlds that are connected to a digital world. To that end we ask that you help us protect not only our own world, but yours as well."

Daisuke sat there for a minute trying to take everything in. It was pretty mind boggling to find out that there were other earths and digital worlds out there, but at the same time it wasn't all that hard to believe. Like Kuroku had said, he already knew of the existence of three other world besides this Earth – the digital world, the dream world, and the dark ocean. The hardest part to believe was that he seemed to be so important to the old man's plan. It was flattering to hear, of course, but he couldn't think of any reason that he would be needed more than the others.

"Why do you say that I'm needed more than the others?"

"Because you are a Legendary Hero," Kuroku said as if it were obvious. Daisuke certainly didn't think it was.

"Legendary Hero?" he asked.

"Yes, a Legendary Hero. You are someone who has already saved your own world and digital world from complete destruction."

"As totally awesome as that sounds, everyone else was there too. Wouldn't they also be Legendary Heroes?"

"No, because it was through your efforts and leadership that it was possible. It was your partner that made the final move. It was your strength of heart that kept you from being pulled into the Dream World's fantasies, your courage and trust in your partner that kept you from giving up when all others had, your bonds of friendship and your belief that anything was possible, even in a world not made of dreams, that you were able to pull your friends back into reality and give them the boost they needed to continue fighting. You have something very special about you, both in character and as a Chosen Child, that makes you a Legendary Warrior far more than your title as leader of your group does."

Daisuke felt a little light headed. That was a lot to take in. He could see what the old man was talking about, but he'd never thought of it as anything special. It was just how he was. Hearing it all said like that made him feel very warm inside. He was a very happy person by nature. He wasn't easily embarrassed and most insults or jokes rolled right off him, but that didn't mean he wasn't affected at all by what other people said about him, particularly his friends and family. To hear someone – someone who wasn't Taichi or Yamato – praise him so thoroughly for what he did really made him feel good.

"Geez, thanks," Daisuke said with a slight blush as he rubbed the back of his head.

"There's no need to thank me, I merely speak the truth. Now the question is: Will you help us?"

Daisuke didn't need to think about his answer. He would have helped even if his own world wasn't involved, but since it was there was even less of a reason to say no.

"Of course we'll help, right Chibimon?" Daisuke asked and despite his earlier misgivings Chibimon was all for helping to save the world again.

"Of course!" Chibimon said excitedly, dropping his serious act as he had decided that the two strangers didn't pose a threat against Daisuke.

"Great! I'm sure the other will help out too. Do you want me to go ahead and contact them?" Daisuke asked Kuroku.

"Yes, the sooner we leave, the better."

"Alright, just a moment." Daisuke pulled out his D-Terminal and sent a message to his friends. He decided to keep it brief and to the point. It would be easier to explain once they were here, anyway. "Okay, they should be here soon. Erm, you mentioned something about _my_ generation... does that mean that I should have told them not to bring Taichi-sempai and the others?"

"No, the older children will not come. I am sure of that," Kuroku said with a strange smile.

"How can you be so sure?" Daisuke asked with a frown. He was pretty sure that the older Chosen Children would come considering the message he had sent, but he also had a feeling that Kuroku was telling the truth.

"Don't worry. You'll know soon enough."

* * *

Hikari sighed and leaned back on her bed as Daisuke left. It had been two weeks since the final battle with BelialVamdemon, and everything was pretty crazy. The world's governments were already denying the existence of digimon and trying to cover everything up, even though they had been perfectly willing to accept it during the crisis. To make matters worse everyone had decided to just go along with it. The only ones who knew what had actually happened were the Chosen Children and the parents and family members of the Japanese Chosen Children. It really irked her that people were so willing to deny what had happened. She wanted everyone to know and to accept the digimon. She was tired of being forced to hide her best friend from the world.

Unfortunately not everyone agreed with her on that point. Of course they all wanted their friends to be accepted, but they didn't think that they would be. They were worried about how the governments might try to use the digimon and by extension the Chosen Children. That was what the whole meeting had been about. What they should do about the digimon and exposing their existence to the world. Ultimately it had been decided that they should just keep them hidden. It was mostly Taichi and Daisuke's decision, but everyone decided to go along with it because they were the leaders.

"You shouldn't worry so much Hikari," Taichi said as he sat down beside his sister, startling her from her thoughts.

"I know, but I can't help it. I'm just so tired of always having to hide."

"Me too, but I think hiding is better than dying," Taichi said with a sigh and leaned forward to rest his elbows on his knees. "As much as I'd like to believe that the world would be able to accept the digimon and not use them to wage war, I know that that won't happen. As humans we're selfish, hurtful, and afraid of what we don't understand."

"We were able to accept it well enough," Hikari said looking at her brother.

Taichi looked over at her, "Yeah, well, we've got an advantage. We're Chosen Children, and being actual kids when we went to the Digital World made us more accepting because we were still "pure of heart" or at least that's what Koushiro says. Anyway, as Chosen Children we also have a special connection to the Digital World that nobody else does. We can't base the real world's reactions to digimon on our own. If we were normal, there's a chance that the world could accept digimon, even if it took a while. Since we're not though, how could we expect them to react the same way?"

"That makes sense. We're already connected to the digital world in some way, so it's only natural for us to want to protect it, but the rest of the world... they don't understand it the same way we do. They don't have a connection like we do."

"Right, so it would be unfair to expect them to accept something like the digimon, and cruel to push the digimon into a situation that might hurt them."

There was silence between the siblings, but it was comfortable. Hikari continued thinking over their conversation, she wondered when her brother had become so smart. Not that she thought he was stupid. He was very intelligent, but he didn't usually do the whole "deep thinking" thing. That was usually Koushiro's department.

The silence was soon broken by the sound of Hikari's D-Terminal going off. She frowned as she picked it up off the bedside table. She couldn't think of why any one would be contacting her this late unless there was some kind of problem. Taichi seemed to agree with her, because he had straightened up and was staring at her D-Terminal with a serious expression.

She turned back to the device and opened it:

_To: Hikari_

_From: Daisuke_

_I need you to come to the park immediately. There's something going on. I can't explain right now. It's easier to explain in person. Just come quick! This is really important!_

"That's all it says," Hikari said worriedly.

"I see," Taichi said quietly in a tone of voice as if he was confirming something instead of actually speaking with Hikari.

"Taichi?"

"You should hurry up, Hikari. This sounds important," Taichi said as he got up from the bed and headed out the door.

"Wait!" Hikari called after her brother as she ran to the door, "Aren't you coming too?"

"Nah. I think you can handle it."

"But, but – This isn't like you!"

Taichi sighed, "You'll understand soon enough, Hikari. Right now, though, you need to go to Daisuke." And with that Taichi disappeared behind his door.

Hikari stared at her brother's door for a few seconds stunned. He had never acted this way before. He was always the first to jump into action when something was wrong and he had never been so dismissive towards her before. It was a little worrying, but she knew she couldn't think of that right now. She needed to figure out what was going on. With these thoughts in mind Hikari raced out the door with Gatomon in tow.

* * *

It didn't surprise Daisuke when one of his fellow Chosen Children showed up about five minutes after he had sent his message. What had surprised him was that it was Ken, who lived in Tamachi, that had showed up first. Daisuke was sure he would have been on the train to Tamachi by now as he was the first to have left the meeting.

"Ken!" Daisuke called as his friend ran up to him and Chibimon, Wormmon cradled in his arms, "What are you doing here so early? I thought you would be the last person to show up."

"I never got on my train," Ken explained as he came to a stop in front of Daisuke, "I felt... well I don't really know how to explain it, but I felt something was about to happen, so I started back towards the Yagami's when I go your message."

Daisuke hummed. He wondered if it had anything to do with their bond as Jogress partners, but decided to think about it another time. Right now he needed to focus on his best friend who was worriedly asking questions about what was wrong and if he was okay.

"Dude, chill out. You're starting to sound like Miyako. I'm fine. What's going on is a little... complicated. I think it would be best if everyone was here before we explain anything."

"We?" Ken asked with raised brows.

"Yeah, Kuroku and I," Daisuke said and waved his hand in the direction of Kuroku and Clockmon. Daisuke could tell that Ken hadn't noticed the old man and digimon, because he had jumped back and took up a defensive position whenever Daisuke pointed them out.

Kuroku and Clockmon didn't pay them much mind and simply continued to inspect the ground where they were standing muttering about something. Daisuke had no idea what they were doing, but they had told him it was important and not to interrupt.

"Daisuke, are you sure?" Ken asked his friend. He knew Daisuke wasn't naïve, but he didn't always think things through and had a tendency to trust people quickly.

It was for that very reason that Ken felt the need to protect Daisuke. Daisuke was the one to pull him from the darkness. He was the one that had given his life meaning; that said no matter how evil he had been before he was allowed a second chance. Daisuke was the one that had saved him from himself. He was the light to Ken's darkness; like the brilliant sun that chased away the nightmares brought on by the night, warmed the heart, and shone so freely to everyone. He didn't want Daisuke to get hurt. He had been hurt enough already.

"Of course I'm sure," Daisuke said nonchalantly, "He's explained everything to me and he has a digimon. Evil people don't have digimon."

"Daisuke I have a digimon," Ken said, reminding Daisuke that he used to be the Kaiser.

"Yeah, and you're not evil," Daisuke said firmly.

"Not anymore, but I was," He said quietly, but just as firmly.

"It wasn't your fault, you got corrupted by an evil seed. Plus you weren't corrupted when you first got your digivice or when you first met Wormmon." Daisuke said. He sighed when he realized that Ken wasn't ready to drop this. "Look, watch him and be wary all you want, if it makes you feel better, but at least trust me enough to stay and listen to what he has to say."

Ken looked at Daisuke's pleading face and broke immediately. He just couldn't say no to his best friend. Ken was pretty sure that Daisuke had the best puppy dog eyes out of anyone alive, and he didn't even know it.

"You know I always trust you Daisuke, but I won't trust him," Ken said with a suspicious look towards Kuroku.

Daisuke rolled his eyes, but smiled, "You're always so protective," he said in exasperation.

Before Ken could make any sort of response, Hikari and Gatomon came running up to them.

"Daisuke!" she called when she saw him. She stopped in front of her fellow Chosen Children and looked rather surprised at seeing Ken there. "You're here rather early."

"I hadn't made it on the train yet. I... felt like something was going to happen, so I was on my way back when I got Daisuke's message."

Hikari nodded her head in understanding as if it all made perfect sense to her. Daisuke decided that it probably did make perfect sense to her or at least that it didn't surprise her. Having been a Chosen Child three years before and being the Child of Light left her with a strong connection to the digital world and quite a few odd experiences.

Hikari turned to Daisuke with worry. "What's the problem Daisuke?" she asked.

"I think it's better if we wait for everyone else to show up first and then I'll let Kuroku explain."

"Kuroku? Who's Ku-"

"Hey! We're here!" the voice of Miyako rang out, cutting off Hikari.

The trio looked out towards the road and saw six other figures running towards them. In the front was Miyako waving her arms frantically. Takeru and Iori were right behind her, keeping pace with each other. All three of them were carrying their digimon. When they came to a stop in front of Daisuke, Ken, and Hikari, Miyako leaned on her knees to catch her breath.

"We told you not to run so fast," Takeru panted as he also leaned on his knees. Iori only seemed mildly winded. He had better endurance than the other two due to his many rigorous Kendo lessons.

"Daisuke said it was really important, so I thought we should hurry in case it was, like, the end of the world again," Miyako said with a glare, "And we wouldn't have had to run if you hadn't taken so long."

"Miyako has a point. You did take a long time to get ready," Iori said.

Takeru frowned as he stood up straighter, "It wasn't my fault. I was eating dinner with Nii-san when I got the message and he started looking really weird. He said that he wasn't going to come and none of the others would be there either..." he said with a helpless shrug.

"That sounds like how Taichi was acting," Hikari said.

"Kuroku said that they'd be that way," Daisuke said with a shrug.

"Kuroku?" Miyako asked.

"Who's Kuroku?" Iori and Takeru asked together.

"The old guy over there with the Clockmon. He's the one that told me to call you guys, which I would have done anyway after he told me what was going on," Daisuke explained and waved a hand in Kuroku's direction. He seemed to have finished inspecting the ground and was now making his way over to the group, Clockmon in tow.

"Whoa! He's old," Miyako said.

"How could someone at such an age have a digimon?" Iori asked.

Hikari looked thoughtful. "Is he... part of the first group of Chosen Children?"

"Did the digital world exist when he was a kid?" Takeru asked.

"He's not a part of the first group," Daisuke told them. Everyone turned towards him.

"How do you know?" Miyako asked sceptically.

"Because he told me so," Daisuke said rolling his eyes at her.

"Good, you're all here."

The group turned towards the voice to see Kuroku standing a couple of feet away with Clockmon standing beside him. All of the digimon, save for Chibimon and Wormmon jumped in front of their partners in case the man decided to attack.

"There's no need to be so defensive. I'm not here to hurt anyone," Kuroku said.

"How do we know we can trust you?" Gatomon growled.

"Your leader trusts me."

"That's not exactly in your favor," Miyako snorted.

"What's that supposed to mean!?" Daisuke said highly offended. Didn't his friends trust him?

"Daisuke trusts a lot of people and not all of them deserve it," Iori said quietly, casting a glance towards Ken.

"Iori, that wasn't very nice," Upamon said, though he never took his eyes off of Kuroku and Clockmon.

Daisuke agreed with Upamon. Iori had always had the hardest time forgiving Ken or really anyone when they did something wrong, even if they sincerely regretted it. He had thought though, that he had already gotten over his hatred towards Ken and that the two were beginning to become friends.

"Ken is one of us, Iori, and I thought you knew that. He's helped us a lot and he was being corrupted by an evil seed. If you're too immature to apologize, fine, but don't let the fate of our worlds suffer because of it," Daisuke said disapprovingly towards Iori. He may not have been the most mature of the group, but neither was Iori if he was still holding onto his grudge for the past six months even after Ken risked his life and in some cases sanity to help them protect the Worlds.

"Oh, like _your_ one to talk," Miyako sneered once she got her wits about her. She had never heard Daisuke sound so authoritative before.

Daisuke ignored her. Now was definitely not the time to get in a fight with her. "Before you go dismissing him, you might as well hear him out. Whether you believe him or not is up to you, but either way, I'm going to help him."

"Alright, let's hear him out then," Takeru said interrupting Miyako before she could even start yelling about being ignored.

Takeru looked at Kuroku and tried not to show his surprise at Daisuke's maturity. He supposed it was only natural after what they'd been through and when he thought about it, it had really started as they were getting into their final battle with the Kaiser. He knew it was unfair of him to judge Daisuke by his actions in the beginning and compare his maturity level to the people he knew when they were his same age, because they had all been forced into maturity and Daisuke hadn't yet. It was still hard, but now that he was seeing a different side of Daisuke, he was really going to have to start rethinking a few things, particularly his behavior towards him, because as much as he hated to admit it, he hadn't exactly been the nicest to Daisuke, though it was a two way street.

Unknown to Takeru, Hikari was having similar thoughts, although Daisuke having always been nice (though a bit annoying) to her made her feel even guiltier when she thought of all of the things she had said to him or all of the times she had used his crush on her against him.

"Alright, please try not to interrupt." Kuroku said and then cleared his throat. "There are many different worlds and dimension in existence. You already know of four of them – Earth, the Digital World, the Dark Ocean, and the Dream world. This being said, it shouldn't be too hard for you to believe that there are other worlds, besides those, in existence." The group nodded there heads slowly. "Good. Many of these other worlds are very similar to this world. There are many different "earths" in existence and several of them have "digital worlds" attached to them.

"It is with one of these worlds that my concern lies. You see, they are having a terrible time right now. Their "Chosen Children" for lack of a better term, are struggling and I fear that their enemy will over power them. I come to you to ask for assistance in gathering other heroes from other worlds so that we may assist the heroes of my own world."

"Why do you need us, if you're going to other worlds as well. Surely those Chosen Children would be enough," Iori said with a frown. "We've just gotten out of a war, after all."

"Yeah! Besides we have our own world to take care of! It's not our fault if they aren't strong enough to handle it," Miyako said with a hand on her hip and a glare on her face.

The others gasped at what she said and Hikari looked at her in disbelief. "Miyako, how can you say that?" she asked incredulously.

Miyako frowned at her. "We've fought hard to protect Earth and the digital world. We almost lost and it's only been a couple of weeks. There's still so much damage and we still have to hide our partners. Don't we deserve a break? Why should we have to go around saving other worlds too? It's not fair! We had to fight on even though our chances of winning were so small. If they're Chosen Children then they're going to have to find their own strength!"

Miyako was panting by the end of her tirade and small tears had gathered in the corners of her eyes. She refused to let them fall though. She had fought to hard and survived through too much to cry over something as meaningless as this. She was stronger than that now.

"I... can see Miyako's point," Takeru said softly. "It's not that we don't want to help them, but we've been through a lot. Why should we go to another world just to help another group of Chosen Children defeat their enemy. Why do you need us? Won't whoever else you're going to get be enough?"

"If they were enough I wouldn't be here. You can choose to stay if you wish, but understand that if the enemy wins it will not simply be my world and it's digital world that will fall, but yours as well as all other human digital worlds in existence" Kuroku explained gravely.

The group looked wide eyed at the old man. If they didn't go their world would be destroyed. No matter how much some of them wanted to stay and finally be done, they had to protect their world. That didn't mean they would be particularly happy about it though.

"Aaaaaaaagh!" Miyako screamed her frustrations out causing everyone to jump and glare at her. She ignored them and took a deep calming breath before letting it out slowly. Than she smiled widely (and rather creepily) and Daisuke, who had been standing closest to her, edged away. When she spoke again her voice was rather strained. "Okay then. Since we don't seem to have a choice."

"What about the older kids?" Takeru asked.

"They will not be needed. Not as they are now at least."

"I don't understand," Hikari said with a furrowed brow.

"As they are now, they are not strong enough to fight with us. We will not have enough time for them to become that strong either, so we will gather them from a time when they were at peak strength." Kuroku explained.

"Are you talking about going to the past?" Ken asked in surprise.

"Of course. I can cross through dimensions and time, though it is very dangerous to mess with the time lines it is necessary at the moment."

"That is so cool!" Daisuke exclaimed with a big smile. "Man, it'll be so weird seeing Taichi-sempai as the same age as me!"

"What makes you think that he'll be the same age as you?" Miyako asked rudely.

Daisuke huffed and rolled his eyes, "Duh. If they're going to come from a time when they were at there best, that would be before they gave up their crests, which was the summer after they first went to the digital world. They might be a year older, but it's still close enough." Miyako just huffed and turned away, irritated that he had one-upped her.

"How are we going to go to another world?" Chibimon asked.

"Ah, yes. Please everyone. Gather around over here," Kuroku said and ushered everyone to stand on the spot of ground he had been inspecting earlier. "This spot here seems to be the weakest spot in the temporal barrier."

"Um... temporal barrier?" Daisuke asked confused.

"Yes, the temporal barrier is the barrier that keeps time in check. If it didn't exist you might see your self across a room doing what you had just done or see yourself doing what you are about to do. Without the barrier the fabric of time would fall apart, throwing everything into chaos, creating paradoxes and likely causing the universe, or should I say multi-verse, to implode," Kuroku explained. "It would be very nasty business."

"Is that why it's so dangerous to travel through time?" Hikari asked as she picked up Gatomon.

"Yes. By traveling through time, you weaken the barrier."

"Then wouldn't it be better to travel through where the barrier isn't already weakened? Won't that just make it worse?" Takeru asked a little worriedly.

"Not quite. It's easier to pass through what's already weak. There's less resistance and less of a chance of damaging the barrier when you go through it."

"That doesn't make sense," Iori said.

"Ha ha ha! Perhaps not, but sense when has time travel ever made sense?"

Nobody could really answer that question, so they stayed quiet as Kuroku and Clockmon did whatever it was they were doing. Daisuke watched in interest as Clockmon's hand began to move backwards. A strange circle with weird symbols appeared on the ground beneath the groups feet and started to glow with faint green light.

"Ealte eaus eapssa eahthgour eahte Eatlaropme Eabreirra," Kuroku called out.

Daisuke heard everyone gasp as the circle began to rise and encircle them, growing steadily brighter. Soon the clock hands on Clockmon started to slow down only for both of them to settle on on of the two strange symbols they had already been resting on – the circle with a dot in the center and a long slender triangle pointing upwards with a line on either side that curled outwards at the ends. As soon as the clock hands had stopped moving, everything around them seemed to stop as well and then suddenly everything was a multicolored blur and a great wind was whipping the groups hair around their faces.

Daisuke began to feel a little sick and dizzy at all the motion and closed his eyes in hopes of preventing himself from throwing up. It worked a little though he still felt a little disoriented. As he waited he felt someone grip his shoulder and knew instantly that it was Ken. He guessed that he was having the same problem and had decided to hold onto Daisuke so he didn't fall over.

It wasn't long until the wind stopped and Daisuke heard Kuroku telling them that it was okay to open their eyes. When he did everything looked about as it should and the only indication that they had traveled back in time at all was that it was now day time – likely morning – and it was much warmer than before – likely being summer time.

"Come along children. We had better find a place to sit down so we don't stand out too much," Kuroku said as he started walking closer to the woody area of the park.

"We're lucky no one was here to see us," Iori said.

"Yeah, that wouldn't have been good at all," Takeru said.

Ken took his hand away from Daisuke's shoulder as the started walking towards Kuroku. "Sorry," He said.

"That's okay. I would have done the same thing if you hadn't first. You kept me standing too," Daisuke replied easily. They all came to a stop by Kuroku and Daisuke could see Clockmon hiding in the trees.

"I won't be able to go with you to get the others as I need to find the best place for us to continue our travels. I would suggest that you approach the group with caution as they will be wary of you." Kuroku said as he sat on the ground with his legs crossed.

"Right. I guess we should split up. It'll be easier to find everyone that way and less intimidating if there's only one of us instead of six of us," Daisuke said.

"I think we should go in groups at least. What if something happens?" Iori said.

"Well we're not in the digital world and we run around the city by ourselves all the time when we're in our own time. I doubt it will be much different then. If we do happen to have trouble, though, we all have D-Terminals to contact each other with. If we split into groups it will take two to three times as long since we have six people to find," Daisuke said easily.

"Um, don't you mean eight?" Miyako said. "There were eight original Chosen Children, remember?"

"While that may be the case, Hikari and Takeru are already coming with us. They are at full strength right now, so there's no sense in bringing their younger selves in with us," Ken said.

"I agree with Daisuke," Takeru said and Daisuke looked at him in surprise.

"You do?" he asked with slightly wide eyes.

Takeru gave a smile, "Yeah. It makes sense, and Hikari and I don't have any memories of this, so we obviously didn't go with you."

"That's right!" Hikari exclaimed in realization. "That would explain why Taichi and Yamato didn't want to come. They had already come."

"Fine. How are we going to find them then since you seem to be oh-so smart," Miyako said irritably.

Daisuke frowned at her. He had never really gotten along with Miyako. She thought he was an idiot (which he wasn't) and he thought she was a brat (which she kind of was), but he had thought that their relationship had improved some after their battles. He supposed it could just be the stress talking, but he sometimes wondered.

He decided he had better speak up as she was starting to get irritated and Chibimon was glaring at her. He definitely didn't want a fight to start.

"We can use our Digivices. They were programmed to find both the knew and old versions and since the old versions haven't changed in the past – future? – three years then our digivices should still be able to track them," Daisuke said stumbling a little over which tense to use since they were now in the past.

Miyako gaped a little at him and he couldn't help but smirk a little. She snapped her mouth closed and glared a little before looking away to sulk.

"That's a good idea," Hikari said. "It won't be nearly as hard to find them that way."

Once they had decided that they were all going to split up, they turned on their D-3's and each chose one of the whitish blue dots. Daisuke was extremely happy that Koushiro was always trying to find ways to improve the digivices, because otherwise searching for everyone would be a pain in the but. It was pretty amazing that he had been able to find a way for their D-3's to see the entire city and not just a portion of it. Daisuke knew that he was also working on upgrading the older generations digivices to do the same thing, but since they were older it was a little harder.

Daisuke walked around the city looking at his digivice as Chibimon slept in his arms. He made sure to still pay attention to what was going on around him so he didn't run into anybody, trip and fall, or not be able to remember how to get back. The streets were pretty crowded and as he approached an apartment complex that he knew Taichi and Sora lived in, he started seeing a lot of police officers and military men. He looked down at his digivice and saw that he had to walk by whatever commotion was going on to get to his target. He decided he might as well satisfy his curiosity if he was going to be so close anyway.

Daisuke let out a small grin as he pushed past the many bystanders. He heard a few of them curse at him as he waded through, but he ignored them. He was small enough that most people didn't pay much mind and those that did probably thought he was looking for his parents. It was unfortunate, but he was pretty sure that most of them thought he was younger than he was, since he was a little on the short side.

As he moved he realized that most of the commotion was directed towards the river beside him, so he started heading in that direction. When he was finally able to get passed the throng of bodies he stopped dead in his tracks at the yellow police tape. He knew his eyes were as wide as saucers and he was gaping like an idiot, but he didn't really care, because what was in front of him was pretty mind blowing. It also gave him an idea of when they were.

Before his eyes, resting in the harbor like some kind of grand monument was a missile. Not just any kind of missile though. It was a nuclear warhead. He knew because it had been all over the news and had almost started a war between Japan and America, whom the missile belonged to. He briefly wondered how he could have forgotten this had happened when he had actually seen the missile fall while out with his mother. He hadn't really understood what was happening at the time. He was only seven, after all, but his mother had totally flipped and he remembered being questioned for a few days by some military guys.

"Pretty scary, huh?"

Daisuke jumped when he heard the voice behind him. He had been so engrossed in his memories that he had completely forgotten that he was standing in a crowd of people. He whipped himself around to see who had spoken only to come face to face with one Yamato Ishida. He couldn't help but gape a little as he stared at the younger-older boy. It was definitely a weird sight. For once he was actually glad to be shorter than most boys his age, because if he had been taller than his sempai he might not have been able to handle the weirdness.

"Y-Yamato-sempai!" Daisuke squeaked out before he could stop himself. He flushed a little at how high his voice had gotten and mentally face palmed for his mistake. Yamato was one of the more suspicious and "hardened" of the Chosen Children. In fact he was probably the worst person Daisuke could have run into. Daisuke didn't exactly have a filter for his mouth and he just knew this was going to be really difficult for him to explain.

Yamato raised an eyebrow at him. "Excuse me?" he asked confused and suspicious. "Do I know you?"

"Er... not yet," Daisuke said awkwardly.

"Not yet? What is that supposed to mean," Yamato asked with narrowed eyes.

"Um, maybe we can talk about this somewhere else?" he asked hopefully.

"Why should I go anywhere with you? I don't know you or anything about you."

"Uh..." he said as he tried to think of some way to convince the other boy to come with him. He didn't want to talk about this in a crowded street, even if nobody was focusing enough to here them. It made him nervous and he shifted Chibimon in his arms. He suddenly wanted to smack himself. How could he have forgotten about the most convincing evidence he had?

"Because of him," he said firmly and with confidence as he lifted Chibimon and shoved him forward to show him to Yamato. Chibimon startled awake at the sudden move, but merely blinked at Yamato who's mouth was hanging open slightly.

Yamato seemed to shake himself and snapped his mouth closed. His eyes hardened and he grabbed Daisuke by the wrist and started pulling him through the crowd. Daisuke let out a squawk at the sudden movement, but didn't resist as he was led to somewhere quieter. Once the three had made it to an ally way, which left Daisuke feeling uneasy, Yamato dropped his wrist and spun to meet his eyes.

"Why do you have a digimon?" he demanded with out preamble.

"Because I'm a Chosen Child," Daisuke said confidently. His sempai had a way of being intimidating, though he hadn't seen much of it in his own time, but Daisuke knew he had every right to be where he was and he didn't have the luxury of beating around the bush. Not that he'd do so anyway, but it was the principle of the matter.

"There are only eight Chosen Children," Yamato said.

"Right now, yeah, but in three years time there are about a hundred all around the world and four more show up here in Japan," Daisuke explained.

Yamato scoffed. "Are you trying to tell me that you're from the future?"

"Yes," Daisuke said with such certainty and finality that Yamato was startled.

Yamato frowned. "Then prove it."

"I don't really know how to do that. I have a digimon and I know you, but you don't know me. I can't really reveal what's going to happen in the future, because Kuroku said that it was dangerous messing with time. I don't want to mess anything up," Daisuke said a touch desperate at the end.

"Whose Kuroku?" Yamato asked.

"This old guy who came to our time with this clock like digimon. He said that while he wasn't a Chosen Child he knew about them and he talked about there being a bunch of different worlds and digital worlds out there that nobody knows about. Apparently there's some big bad out there trying to destroy his world and digital world and if he succeeds he's going to destroy all of our worlds, so Kuroku's traveling between different dimensions and times to gather Chosen Children or the equivalent from different worlds to fight off the enemy and save all of the digital worlds," Daisuke explained all in one go. It was extremely condensed but he didn't have the time or the patience to try and explain things any better.

Yamato looked at him like he'd grown another head. "And why should I believe something like that? It sounds ridiculous."

"You didn't believe in the digital world until you went there either," Daisuke pointed out.

"Maybe not, but a time traveling, world hopping Chosen Child sounds crazy."

"Daisuke's not lying and he's not crazy!" Chibimon said in defense of his partner.

Yamato jumped, having forgotten that he was there. He looked at the little blue dragon and a bit of doubt came over his face. "It still sounds ridiculous, but I guess you do have a digimon partner, so you can't be completely lying."

Daisuke's face broke into a wide smile. "Great, that means we can head back to the park and meet up with the others!" he said cheerily as he grabbed Yamato's wrist and began dragging him out of the alley way.

"Hey, wait a minute!" Yamato yelled and yanked his arm back. "I didn't say I believed you, just that you weren't completely lying."

Daisuke looked at him and frowned, which Yamato thought looked more like a pout. For some reason he really didn't want to say no to him. On the other hand he had no idea who this kid was. He could be a digimon in disguise or something.

Daisuke sighed and then put his hand to his chin and narrowed his eyes in a classic "thinking pose". Only a few seconds went by before his eyes lit up and he let out an excited "AH!" before turning back to Yamato. "If you see an older version of Takeru will you believe me?" he asked and Yamato's eyes widened. "Of course you'll have to come with me because we split up to look for you guys. He's probably back at the park by now. He wouldn't have any trouble convincing anyone to come with him. Actually, I can see If he's there. We can track each other easily, because we can tell who's who. Unfortunately Koushiro hasn't figured out how to do that with you guys yet." And with that said he pulled out his D-3 and started pulling up the tracking program.

Yamato's widened even more when he saw the D-3. It wasn't the same as there's, but he could tell it was a digivice. He was a Chosen Child after all. The different looks could easily be attributed to him being from the future, if he was telling the truth about that. The strange feeling he got when he was around the other boy could also be attributed to the fact that he was a Chosen Child, though it was a slightly different and much stronger feeling than the one he got from being around the rest of the group. It was almost like what he felt around Taichi, except it was still different to that feeling. If this kid really was from the future than he must be connected to him in some way more than simply being another Chosen Child.

"Well?" Daisuke asked impatiently when he noticed Yamato zoning out a little. "I've already seen that Takeru and Hikari are back at the park. Are you going to come or do I have to find some other way to convince you?"

Yamato thought for a moment before giving his answer, "I'll go with you, but this had better not be a trick."

"Great! And I promise that it's not a trick." Daisuke said before grabbing Yamato's wrist again and pulling him towards the Alley way entrance.

"I can walk on my own, you know," Yamato grumbled, but he didn't pull away like he normally would have. There was just something about the kid that was keeping him from being too irritated.

It took a while to get through the crowd as it seemed that even more people were flocking the unexploded warhead than before. Daisuke supposed that that was probably true as it was late enough that most of the adults would be getting off of work now. Having someone with you that you were pretty much dragging didn't help much either.

Not that Daisuke was complaining. He was happy that he'd found someone and that it hadn't taken nearly as long as he thought it would have. He wondered of it had anything to do with being the Successor of Friendship, but then decided it didn't really matter. He was getting distracted and that was never a good thing. He always got into some kind of trouble when he let his mind wander.

Just as he thought this, he ran right into some one, though whether this could be considered "trouble" was debatable. On one hand he lost his balance and fell to the ground, dragging Yamato with him, whose wrist he was still holding. Yamato ended up falling on top of Daisuke, and while Daisuke was used to being on the bottom of a dog pile every time he and the others travel through the digital gate, it was still painful. On the other hand the person he ran into and his companion were friendly and most certainly welcome company on their way back to the park.

"Whoa! Are you guys okay?" A friendly and oddly familiar voice asked above the two downed boys.

Yamato groaned and pushed himself onto his hands and knees. He shot an irritated glare at Daisuke, but still pulled the other boy up with him. Daisuke gave a sheepish grin in response before turning his attention to the two people they had knocked into.

Standing before them in all his glory was Taichi, and if Daisuke had thought it was weird to see Yamato it was ten times worse with Taichi. He had actually known Taichi at this age. They had met at the beginning of the school year in 1999 when Taichi had come to pick Hikari up after school. Daisuke had been new, having just moved from Kyoto. Hikari had been the first person to befriend him (and he meant this literally – he had never had friends before) and had introduced the two of them. That had pretty much settled things.

Seeing Taichi this young again while they were the same age was really weird, especially as they could now look directly in each others eyes, something that had never been possible except for when Taichi had knelt down. Daisuke knew he was gaping like an idiot, but there wasn't much for it. After a few seconds he heard someone chuckling – it was muffled but very familiar and he snapped his mouth shut before turning to Taichi's companion and pouting.

"Ke~n!" he whined a little at his friend.

"Sorry," He said though he didn't seem sorry at all.

Daisuke huffed and then turned back to look at Taichi who was looking at him with a furrowed brow. "We're fine, Taichi-sempai," He said and then sighed. He had to stop calling them like that. It was probably weird for them, although at least Taichi was already his sempai by this time.

Taichi's eyes widened a little at the title and this time it was his turn to gape at Daisuke. "Daisuke?" he choked out.

"Yep!" he said leaning back a little and putting his hand behind his head.

"I guess you really were telling the truth," He said to Ken and Ken smiled and nodded his head.

"Wait, you two know each other?" Yamato asked looking between his friend and the strange boy who had suddenly appeared out of no where.

"Yeah. Daisuke's Hikari's friend. I met him at the beginning of the school year. I've been teaching him some soccer. He's a really fast learner!" Taichi said with a smile.

Daisuke couldn't help but blush at the praise, even if it was from the younger version of his sempai, it was something that Taichi had at one point thought and it made him feel pretty good to hear it.

"Well, I guess I don't have to worry about this being some kind of prank then," Yamato said with a sigh.

"I told you I wasn't lying. You'll still get to see Takeru, though just in case there are any more doubts. He's already at the park waiting with Hikari."

"Man, this is gonna be weird," Taichi said thinking about seeing his older-younger sister.

"No kidding," Yamato said under his breath as the began walking back to the park.

The walk back was made in awkward silence. The Chosen Children from the future and past were still unsure about each other, even if the second generation new the others from the future. There wasn't much conversation that could be made without making them all think about the fact that two of them were from the future or past depending how it was looked at.

When they reached the park they could see that it was strangely empty. Daisuke figured this was somehow Kuroku's doing, though he couldn't be sure what he did. He and Ken led the other two to the far end where Kuroku was waiting. As they neared they saw Hikari and Takeru holding their digimon and talking with Koushiro and Sora. There were several other small blobs roaming around and Daisuke frowned trying to figure out what they could be, when all of a sudden Taichi and Yamato let out shout of surprise and joy and began running towards the group. Two of the smaller figures also began running forward and it only took Daisuke a second to figure out that they were the first generations digimon.

"I had wondered what we were going to do about them," Ken said as he stopped by Daisuke and watched the reunion.

Daisuke looked at the scene and then rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "I forgot all about them..."

"Daisuke, Daisuke. Let's go. I want to say hi," Chibimon said as he tugged on Daisuke's sleeve.

"Alright, alright. Just hold your horses," he said and started towards his sempai who were now the same age as him.

"Just don't forget that they don't know you yet, alright. We don't want to make them uncomfortable," Ken said.

"Okay~" Chibimon said.

"We won't Ken-chan," Wormmon answered and the two little digimon hopped out of their partners grasps and made their way to the older digimon. Daisuke and Ken followed their over excited partners to speak with their teammates and sempai.

"About time you showed up," Takeru said as he came to meet Daisuke and Ken. Yamato couldn't help but stare at him as he walked by. It was really weird to see your younger brother the same age as yourself, but also _taller_ than yourself.

"Yeah, well, I had to try and convince Yamato-sempai. Do you have any idea how hard that was?" Daisuke whined a little.

"I suppose he is one of the harder ones," Hikari said. Taichi looked at her with a slight frown, not sure what to think of the situation.

"Yeah, you guys have it easy. Everyone knows who you are, so it probably didn't take long at all," Daisuke pouted.

"Look on the bright side, Daisuke. At least you didn't have Jou," Ken said trying to cheer him up.

It worked and Daisuke snorted at the thought, "Yeah, that would be a nightmare."

"You shouldn't say things like that. Jou's not so bad anymore," Sora said as she walked over to the group with Piyomon.

"He's still pretty bad by this time, Sora," Takeru said, remembering that Jou was still pretty neurotic for a couple more years.

"I don't mean to interrupt, but what exactly is he doing?" Koushiro asked, startling the group since they hadn't noticed him walk up. When they looked to where he was pointing, they saw that Kuroku was examining the ground a short ways from where they had appeared.

"No idea," Daisuke said with a shrug. "He did that in our time before."

"Maybe he's checking for weaknesses in the Temporal and dimensional barriers," Ken suggested.

Sora, Taichi, and Yamato looked confused, not really understanding what they were talking about, while Koushiro had a thoughtful look on his face.

"Why not use the same place we used before then?" Gatomon asked drawing attention to the fact that the digimon were actually paying attention to the conversation, even if most of them had no idea what was being discussed.

"Perhaps because you were merely trying to travel through time, therefore he chose a place where only the temporal barrier was week. Now, however we have to both travel through time and to another dimension so he needs a place where both the temporal barrier and Dimensional barriers is weak. I wonder if..." Koushiro explained before trailing off and mumbling to himself and walking away.

"There he goes again," Tentomon said sighing a little as he following his partner.

"I didn't understand any of that,'' Taichi said and the others nodded in agreement.

Silence reigned for a time as the group stood in the clearing unsure of what to say next. It was extremely awkward and Daisuke was just barely keeping himself from fidgeting. He hated awkward silences, because he always felt the need to say something, and unfortunately what he said usually came off sounding idiotic and only had a fifty percent chance of making things less awkward and it was usually at his own expense. The other fifty percent of the time the silence only became more awkward. Fortunately it was Sora who spoke next and not him.

"Ken and Daisuke, right? Why don't we go sit over there and get to know each other better while we wait for the others," She said and grabbed the two boys' hands and dragged them away. Daisuke didn't feel sorry in the least to be leaving the other four to whatever awkward conversation would pop up and by the looks of it, Ken didn't either.

"Wait for me Daisuke!" Chibimon called as he ran after his partner, Wormmon right on his heels.

"I'm, uh, going to go over there too," Agumon said.

"Wait for me, Agumon!" Gabumon called out and the other digimon were quick to follow.

"Traitor..." Yamato said under his breath. He was awkward enough around his younger brother as it was, though he had gotten much better since the digital world. Being around an older version of him, was really uncool. He swallowed and looked at he other three, "So..."

"Right..." Taichi said nervously.

"Um..." Hikari said biting her lip.

"Yeah..." Takeru rubbed the back of his head awkwardly.

About an hour passed before the remaining four Chosen Children showed up. The conversation between the four siblings had eventually moved from awkward to normal, as if nothing had changed at all. In fact the only show of strain that still remained was the occasional pause when Taichi or Yamato had to look up to speak with Takeru . Kuroku and Koushiro had talked quite a bit about the mechanics of Time and Dimensional travel and Sora, Ken, and Daisuke had made easy conversation, though they did their best not to reveal too much of what would happen in the future. The digimon, of course, were quite happy to chat amongst themselves or play silly games.

"Hey! We're here!" Miyako yelled as she came running into the park. Mimi, Iori, and Jou were running behind them.

"Took you long enough!" Daisuke exclaimed, "What were you doing?"

"Hmph! It's not my fault!" Miyako said, crossing her arms.

"I'm sorry I took so long. It was difficult to convince Jou that I was telling the truth," Iori said apologetically.

"It's alright. We figured it would take longer to convince him," Ken said with a smile, though it dropped a little when Iori frowned at him and looked away. Ken sighed a little dejectedly and Daisuke put his hand on his shoulder and smiled reassuringly at him.

"Ah, it wasn't that big of a deal," Taichi said with a shrug, before jumping out of the way of Palmon and Gomamon as they ran to their partners.

"Jou!"

"Mimi!"

"Gomamon!"

"Oh, Palmon! You're really here!"

They were allowed a short time with their partners before Kuroku finally interrupted.

"I know you're happy to see each other, but we really must be going. There are three more worlds we need to go to before we can go to my world and you will all need some training once we get there."

"Wait, before we go, could you explain a little more about what's going on?" Yamato asked with a frown.

"I thought that it was already explained to you," Kuroku said, hos gaze passing over the second generation.

"It was, but we're still a little confused on why you need us," Sora said and the others nodded in agreement before fixing Kuroku with serious looks.

Kuroku sighed with some impatience, but acquiesced to their request and told them everything he had told Daisuke and the others. Daisuke decided to sit further away and talk to Chibimon about some ramen he was thinking about trying. He didn't feel like listening to this story for a third (or fourth if you count the time he told it) time.

Once Kuroku was finished he looked at the Chosen Children. "That is everything I have to say. Are we ready to leave now?"

"Yeah, sorry. We just wanted to know what was going on," Taichi said.

"Then you agree to help us?" Kuroku asked.

"Of course!" Taichi said with determination.

"Very well then, we shall get started." Kuroku said as he walked to where he had been examining the ground. "Stand close together in a group and I shall call out where we need to go."

Nearly the same process was use this time as the last, except that it seemed a little more complicated. Their were orange and green circles and a lot more symbols. The incantation was also much longer. Daisuke couldn't make out any specifics like last time, because there were so many people, but he new that it was on a much larger scale. Daisuke instantly latched onto who was standing beside him, remembering the queasy feeling he got the first time it happened.

Taichi, whose shoulder he had grabbed, looked over to him with a curious expression. It quickly morphed into a concerned frown when he saw the grimace. Before Daisuke could say anything in way of explanation or warning, the world erupted into brilliant lights and colors and loud rushing sounds. The process had begun, and Daisuke decided it was much worse than last time and just barely managed to close his eyes before the psychedelic visuals made him lose what little food he had left in his stomach.

* * *

**A/N: And that's a wrap! I hope you like the explanations and I hope they make sense. If you have any questions I would be glad to answer them. I do not know when the next chapter will be out. Hopefully within the next week or so. If anyone read my other story, will know that I can be very late sometimes. Those of you who didn't read my other story will probably find out pretty soon. On the up side, it will be a very long chapter. Until next time!**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: MERRY CHRISTMAS! I am so sorry this took so long! I will try to get the next one up sooner, but I'm not making any promises.**

**I will admit this was a difficult chapter to figure out, with all the weirdness of the Adventure crew being TV Characters to the Tamers (this may actually be a dub thing, but I haven't finished Tamers in Japanese yet,so I can't be sure, and it's too much a part of the story to take it out now).**

**Also, please forgive the characterization. I kind of think it sucks, but I couldn't find ways around how I made the characters act. Some of them are simply easier than others.**

**On to other business... **

**I'd like to thank everyone who followed and favorited this story.**

**I would like to give special thanks to my reviewers piccolaamica, Dragon and Sword Master, KageroXover, EmD23, MiraclesxFaith, and my guest reviewer Digifan.**

******IMPORTANT NOTE!**

******I like to use the Japanese versions of the names, because it makes everything more authentic (I do this with some words thatcan't be truly translated or aren't used in the same way in America as they are in Japan (Sempai, Kohai, Sensei... You get the idea). **

******Now, then, Henry and Suzie from the Tamers world don't have Japanese names, but Chinese names, which in my opinion are a little more confusing. Most people who read fanfiction can pronounce Japanese words and names (if the fanfiction is for an anime/manga), Chinese is a little different. However I am still going to use these names. So people don't get confused, I'm going to put the names at the beginning of this chapter and the next couple, so you know who I'm talking about. (if you'd like me to do this with anybody else let me know).**

******Henry = Jian/Jianliang (pronounced Jen or Jenrya respectively)**

******Suzie = Shaochung (pronounced Shiuchon)**

******Please note that these pronunciations come from the Digimon Wikia as I do not speak Chinese. If there is someone else who does and would like to correct me I would be glad to hear it and change the pronunciation.**

**Anyway, I'll let you all get to the story after this brief disclaimer.**

******Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon Adventure, Adventure 02, Tamers, Frontier, Savers, or Fusion or any of their plot and characters. They are the property of Toei Animation and Akiyoshi Hongo. This was made purely for entertainment and does not receive any profit.**

**Chapter 2: Our Heroes are Real!? Ryo and Ken Reunited!**

* * *

When the wind, noise, and multicolored lights finally stopped, Taichi felt like he was going to puke. He had never been through a more disorienting or sickening event in his life, and he had been sent back and forth between the digital world and Earth, which was not a comfortable journey _at all_. He was lucky that Daisuke had decided to grab a hold of him for support, because if he hadn't they would have been sprawled across the ground much like the rest of their companions, save for Ken and Yamato, and Kuroku and Clockmon, of course.

"Urgh... I think I'm going to barf," Joe said as he sat up and clutched at his stomach.

"Thanks for keeping me up," Yamato said to Ken. Taichi would have thanked Daisuke, too, if he wasn't afraid he'd end up puking on him, so instead he just payed attention to what the others were saying and doing.

"There's no need for thanks. You kept me standing too," Ken said easily.

"I can't believe we forgot about how rough that was," Gatomon groaned as she helped Hikari sit up.

"I'm pretty sure it was worse than last time," Chibimom said as he walked dizzily to where Daisuke was standing.

"Miyako, are you alright?" Poromon asked as he fretted over his fallen partner.

"I'm fine, Poromon," She answered, though she didn't dare get up yet.

"All that spinning made me dizzy, and just look at my dress!" Mimi cried as she examined her pink dress which had a large grassy stain on it.

"What a fascinating experience. I'll have to document it once I can see straight."

"Is that all you ever think about Koushiro?" Tentomon asked.

"I know you're all dizzy, but we really mustn't linger in the open," Kuroku said. "It appears that we have landed in a park with a lot of tree cover, but we have landed outside of the tree cover."

"Right," Taichi said seriously as he looked around the park. He saw a rather thick grouping of trees at the top of a slope to his right and nodded in that direction. "We should hide up their."

"Wait a minute," Koushiro said. "We need to go wherever the dimensional boundaries are weakest. We can't simply travel from anywhere."

"That's true, but fortunately, that seems to be a good direction," Kuroku said and he and Clockmon started towards the trees. Everyone else followed.

Once the group had gathered in the relative safety of the trees, they turned to discussing how they were to go about tracking down this worlds Chosen Children.

"They call themselves the Tamers. We only need the help of four of them as they have a special form of evolution. You will find out about that when they tell you," Kuroku told them.

"Great! So where are they?" Daisuke said, looking forward to meeting these Tamers.

"I don't know. You will have to find them," Kuroku said.

Taichi frowned, "Great. Can you at least tell us what they look like so we know who they are when we see them?"

"I'm sorry, but I don't know that either. Nor do I know their names."

"Wait! So we have to try and find them with only their digimon as a clue?" Yamato asked testily.

"Based off of what you said, there are more than the four we are looking for, as well. We may not find the right children," Koushiro said.

"We'll just have to bring anyone who has a digimon. Surely you'll know who they are when you see them, right?" Hikari said hopefully.

"I will," Kuroku said and everyone sighed in a bit of relief. It was short lived when Kuroku spoke again, "But the children don't have their digimon with them. I will need to stay here and gather them, just as I did with yours."

"What!?"

"Well, what about using the digivices?" Koushiro asked, "You used them to find us, right?"

"We were only able to use them because our Koushiro had scanned your digivices into ours when he was looking at the newer versions. The digivices in this dimension are going to be completely different from our versions, forget the differences in each digivice themselves," Miyako said with a grown.

"So, we just walk around and hope we run into them?" Takeru asked.

"If we walk around with our own digimon, then we'll attract their attention instead," Ken said.

"Great idea!" Daisuke said.

"Yeah, but we should probably leave the larger digimon here," Taichi said.

"But Taichi!" Agumon protested, not wanting to be separated from his partner so soon after reuniting with him, especially when they were in a completely different world. The other digimon and the Chosen Children seemed to agree with his sentiments.

"Actually, it's a good idea," Koushiro said cutting off all of the protests. "Most of you would have to walk on your own and we don't know if anyone in this world knows about digimon. It would be better if we assumed that they don't."

They were still pretty upset about it, but they decided to stay. Only Gomamon was able to be held out of the first generations digimon. The rest of the digimon were jealous to say the least.

"We'll need to split up into groups. At least one of the second generation will need to be with one of us," Taichi said.

"If that's the case we can make three teams of four, four teams of three, or six teams of two," Sora said.

"Six teams of two would give us more coverage, but there are only four people we need to find. If we find who we're looking for, two teams will be left not knowing if they should stop or not," Yamato said.

"That may be true, but there are more than four of these Tamers. We don't know how many of them there are, so we may end up not finding any of the four we're looking for no matter how many teams we divide into," Koushiro said.

"What do you think we should do, Taichi?" Jou asked. The rest of the group turned to him also.

"Hmm. What do you think Daisuke?" Taichi asked looking towards the other boy.

Daisuke looked startled. "Me?"

"Yes, you," he said, amused. "My older self made you the leader of the second generation, so I must have had a lot of faith in you. From what we've heard, you've saved the world in your own right, so I'd like to know what your opinion is."

Daisuke flushed and looked rather pleased at the compliment even if it was from the younger version of his sempai. "Well, I can see why it would be good either way. If there are a lot more Tamers, we're more likely to get one of the ones we're looking for if we have six groups. If we have four groups there's less chance of us getting distracted or lost. We'll probably have to regroup and go back out either way..." he explained thoughtfully. He looked over at Ken and furrowed his brow when he felt a strange sensation in his stomach. Ken looked at him in confusion.

"Well, I'm fine with either, to tell the truth. Do you have a preference? Otherwise, we'll just go with six. We can cover more ground that way as long as we pair up correctly."

Daisuke thought for a moment, still looking at Ken and decided. "I want to go in groups of three," he said finally.

"Alright, we'll go with four groups of three, then," Taichi said with a shrug.

"It really would be better to go with six groups," Iori said with a frown, causing several people to jump since they had nearly forgotten that he was there.

"He's got a point Daisuke," Takeru said.

"I know that, but..." Daisuke glanced at Ken before looking back at Takeru, "I really think we should go in four groups."

Iori caught the look and his eyes darkened. "I don't know why you want to go with Ken, but as our leader you need to put the needs of everyone over your wants," he said harshly.

Daisuke frowned at him. Normally Iori wasn't as bad as the others in treating him like an idiot, but when it involved Ken, he tended to be the worst. "Iori, this isn't just about what I want. This is about the needs of the group. It just so happens that some needs are more important than others."

"Is this about one of your "feelings" again?" Miyako said condescendingly. "You can't just keep making decisions based off of your emotions."

Ken frowned at her and she squirmed a little. She didn't want to upset her crush, but she just couldn't get over how arrogant Daisuke acted. He always thought he was so great and that just because he wore a pair of goggles whatever he said went. It was incredibly annoying and really irked her. Unfortunately, Ken was Daisuke's friend and Jogress partner, so she was forced to walk a rather thin line. Miyako decided to apologize, since she actually felt kind of guilty at the hurt look in Daisuke's eyes. All thoughts of apologizing were immediately thrown from her mind as the look left and he uttered his next words.

"Like your one to talk," he said scathingly.

"What was that!?"

"Uh, guys..."

"Miyako might be very emotional, but she's not our leader either. I agree with Iori," Takeru said, hoping to knock some sense into Daisuke. The first generation was ignored.

"Of course you do," Daisuke said under his breath. Not only were Takeru and Iori Jogress partners, making them much more likely to defend the other, Takeru also seemed to have an aversion to agreeing with Daisuke.

"Hello~"

"Why do you think going with Ken is more important than spreading out?" Hikari asked, hoping to try and diffuse the escalating fight. She hated it when her friends fought and as much as she thought it would be better to go in six groups, she had also realized her mistake in the way that she treated Daisuke and she was trying to rectify it.

"I don't know. It just is," Daisuke said while sighing. He was incredibly frustrated with the strange feelings he got, but he couldn't deny that they were usually right.

"Daisuke, I can go by myself," Ken said, not wanting his friend to be yelled at anymore.

"No you can't," Daisuke said firmly. Ken just sighed and nodded.

"You shouldn't speak like that to him!" Miyako raged.

"Would you just–"

"HEY!"

The six of them startled and turned to look at Taichi. He was looking at them with a stern look and despite only being eleven, he was rather intimidating. The rest of the first generation were staring at them also, and they all started to feel pretty embarrassed. They had completely forgotten that the others were there.

"I've already said that I didn't care what grouping we made and left it up to Daisuke, since nobody else seemed to have an opinion, until Daisuke had decided what to do," Taichi said with a glance at Iori, who frowned and looked down. "Daisuke said four groups of three, so we're going in four groups of three, alright?"

The second generation gave acknowledgments of the decision and Daisuke let out a sigh and smiled toward Taichi. Taichi nodded his head and gave a smile back. He was glad that the fight had been settled, but he knew that the conflicts were hardly finished. Someone was going to have to talk to the second generation. Their dynamics were completely off. Unfortunately, Taichi didn't know if it was because Daisuke was a bad leader or if it was simply because they refused to listen. He was pretty sure that there was a little bit of everything wrong with the group. He'd have to watch them and then talk to them before he could be of any help.

Taichi sighed. He was starting to act like a leader and it was weird. He wouldn't say that he was terrible at it, but he wouldn't say he was great either. He had come to recognize the flaws in himself and to except them and try and work around them. Sometimes he'd be good at it and sometimes he'd be bad at it. At the moment there was more bad than good, but if the respect the second generation gave him was anything to go by, he had it together pretty well in the future. Right now, he only got this way when it concerned Hikari. That being said, there was something about Daisuke that seemed to have his "older brother" instincts kicking in. He decided to think about it later when Koushiro started talking.

"Well, we need to decide who's going in what group and how we're going to split up to look for the Tamers," Koushiro said interrupting the brief, but awkward silence that had settled on the group.

It didn't take too much time for the groups to be made. There were only small protests from the second generation, but after the slight reprimand from Taichi earlier, they were easily quelled. The easiest groups to come up with, were Taichi, Hikari, and Koushiro and Yamato, Takeru, and Sora. The siblings wanted to stay together and they knew well enough how to work together and Koushiro and Sora simply picked the group they felt they needed to be in.

The last two were the hardest and produced the most protests. Daisuke and Ken went together as they had decided, but who would go with them, was a difficult choice. Ultimately it was decided that Miyako would go with them, despite the animosity between her and Daisuke. If she went with Mimi, the group feared the distraction would be too great and as much as they hated to admit it, the two girls knew it to be true. While Mimi could have gone with Daisuke and Ken, Taichi thought that it might be best if she went with Iori. Iori was very quiet and reserved and seemed to have a lot of issues in regards to forgiveness (nobody knew what had happened between him and Ken, but they could easily pick up on the animosity). Taichi thought that Mimi would be the best person to help him with that if they were paired together and Daisuke agreed. Taichi only hoped that Ken would be an efficient buffer between Daisuke and Miyako given his apparent closeness with both of them.

Once the teams were made they decided that if any of them hadn't found a team within an hour they would go back to camp and wait for the others to show up. Hopefully at least one of the teams would have bumped into someone within that hour and they would then have some help from the Tamers in their search. Otherwise they would go back out and try all over again. Once it was clear what they were going to do, each team split up and went different directions.

"Do you think they'll be okay?" Hikari asked worriedly as she walked beside her brother.

"Miyako and Daisuke?" he asked and when she nodded he continued, "I think so. I don't know them as well as you do, but Ken seems to be important to both of them. I'm hoping his presence might be able to keep them in line."

"Well, I suppose they won't get too distracted," she said, before sighing, "It's weird that they're fighting so much."

"Did they not used to?" Koushiro asked.

"No they used to fight a lot, but after the year we had they had gotten much better. They still made jabs at each other, but there weren't as many and they weren't as harsh," Hikari explained before becoming more thoughtful. "She's been awfully stressed lately, though. I'm worried about her."

"You two seem close," Taichi said.

"Yeah, well, she's my Jogress partner, so it's not too surprising," she said with a shrug. Taichi looked at her blankly while Koushiro looked intrigued.

"What's Jogress?" Koushiro asked.

Hikari frowned. "I wonder if I should tell you..."

"I don't see why not," Taichi said a little irritated. He hadn't been able to find out much about what was going on, even if it wasn't something that should matter.

"Perhaps instead of telling us what it is completely, you could try and tell us why it would make you closer. You can always ask Kuroku what he thinks and explain the rest later," Koushiro proposed.

"Well, Jogress is a type of evolution that requires a very close bond between two Chosen Children. It's hard to explain; how it feels, how the bond becomes deeper. I'm not sure it would make much sense unless you knew all of the particulars and even then, it probably wouldn't," Hikari answered with a sigh.

"I suppose I'll have to wait and try and figure it out later," Koushiro said a little dejectedly.

As they continued to walk, Taichi noticed his sister still seemed rather worried. He felt that there was more to her apprehension than she was giving away, so he decided to ask her about it. "Hikari, what's wrong? Is there something else bothering you?"

Hikari tried to give him a reassuring smile, but it did nothing to dissuade his worries. "I'm fine, Taichi. It's nothing, really."

"It's about how worried Daisuke was about Ken, right?" Taichi pushed. Hikari's smile dropped and she gave a sigh of resignation.

"I guess even though three years have passed you still know me well," she said wryly. "Yes, it is about that. I might not have noticed it much until now, but Daisuke's usually right about theses sorts of things."

"Are they Jogress partners too? Or would Daisuke react that strongly with anyone?" Koushiro asked.

"They are Jogress partners, but I think Daisuke would be really worried about anyone if he felt their was a need to be worried. Actually it's Ken that's the more protective of the two," Hikari said thinking about the relationship between her two friends.

"Really? He's so quiet, you wouldn't think so," Taichi said in surprise.

"Yeah, but Daisuke saved Ken and stood by him through everything and Ken doesn't want to lose him."

"Saved him? What do you mean?" Koushiro asked curiously.

Hikari looked at him with a sideways glance and bit her lip. "That's something Ken should tell you."

Koushiro sighed at yet another of his questions going unanswered, though he did understand the reasoning. It was obviously a very personal matter and as much as he loved knowing things, he was respectful of other people's privacy. As for his other questions, their answers could potentially destroy the future that Hikari and the others were from, as he knew that if they found something out that was terrible, nobody would be able to stop themselves from interfering. And that, unfortunately, could make things worse. He supposed he'd have to take some comfort in the fact that he would know everything in the future if he didn't somehow find out about it now.

"Where do you think we are anyway?" Hikari asked as she looked around at the city. She knew they were somewhere that spoke Japanese, but she didn't exactly recognize the city. The only city she was ever really familiar with was Odaiba.

"That's a good question, we can assume that wherever we are they speak Japanese, but we can't necessarily say it's in Japan. We are in another dimension after all. We could be in a city or country that we've never even heard of before," Koushiro explained.

"Or, we could be in Shinjuku," Taichi said.

"True, but that's an awfully specific place to name. Why Shinjuku?" Koushiro asked with raised brows.

Taichi simply shrugged and pointed to a sign. "Because it says 'Shinjuku Train Station'."

Hikari and Koushiro looked to the sign in surprise, before looking back at Taichi. "I suppose I was so deep in thought, I completely lost track of my surroundings," Koushiro said with an unhappy frown. It wasn't like him to be so unobservant.

"Do you think we'll find anyone here? People don't generally hang out in train stations, if they live there," Hikari said.

"Well, we won't know until we try," Taichi said with a shrug and a grin before he made his way towards the train station entrance.

Before the trio could make it to the entrance, two boys came running straight towards Taichi. They noticed their predicament too late, so their warning yells only gave Taichi enough time to look up before the collision. Taichi was sent to the ground while one of the boys fell beside him and the other was sent flying, flipping over himself a couple of times until he finally came to a stop resting on his upper back, butt in the air, and feet resting on the ground above his head. The tin boxes that each boy had been carrying flew from their hands and fell to the ground, knocking the lids off and spilling their contents everywhere.

Koushiro and Hikari simply stared and blinked. It was a truly spectacular fall the three boys had made and they had become speechless in their surprise. It wasn't until the three boys groaned simultaneously that they were able to overcome their shock and make sure they were okay.

"Taichi! Are you okay?" Hikari asked as she rushed to her brother and helped him sit up, placing Gatomon on the ground beside her.

Taichi groaned. "Yeah, I'm alright."

"Hikari," Gatomon hissed and Hikari looked down at her partner who was looking at one of the cards the two boys had in their tins while trying to remain as still as possible.

"What is it Gatomon?" she asked quietly, though gaining the attention of Taichi and Koushiro.

Gatomon discreetly pointed at the card, which Hikari picked up. When she saw what was on it she gasped a little.

"What is it?" Taichi asked. Hikari showed him and Koushiro the card, which had a picture of a white horse with six ripped purple wings and a metal helmet with a horn on it.

"A Unimon," Koushiro stated.

"Apparently we're a card game here," Gatomon said with a sniff.

"Wouldn't that mean that this world knows about digimon?" Taichi asked.

"Not necessarily. We know that the digital world exists here, but it may have been created by the humans that created this card game. Of course the Digimon grew beyond what the people of this world made them - into something far beyond comprehension. If this is the case they may not realize what it is they created. How exactly it happened would be interesting to find out," Koushiro explained. "Of course this is just a theory."

"Your theories are usually right, though," Taichi said.

"Maybe we should keep Gatomon hidden for a little bit longer then?" Hikari suggested.

"That would be best," Koushiro agreed.

Gatomon narrowed her eyes a little at the card before blanking her expression and going slack, so Hikari could pick her up. She was hoping that these "Tamers" didn't simply see digimon as a game. It was something that could easily happen, as shown by the Digimon Kaiser. If they did view digimon in that way they would have more than Kuroku and Clockmon's world to worry about. It was an unsettling thought.

"Oh, ow," the boy that was beside Taichi groaned as he sat up. He had short black hair and round glasses, which had somehow stayed on his face during the fall. He rubbed at his nose where a bruise was already beginning to form.

The other boy, who had spiky light brown hair, also groaned and flipped his feet forward, letting the force carry his upper body until he was sitting. "You okay Kenta?" he called out as he rubbed the back of his head.

"Yeah, but our cards aren't," he said while looking around at the mess of cards.

"What!" the other boy said while looking around. "Oh man, this is going to take forever to clean up."

"We can help you, if you want," Hikari offered and both boys startled and looked up at her, Taichi, and Koushiro. Their eyes went comically wide and their mouths opened and closed like a couple of fish out of water.

Taichi frowned, both at their odd reaction and at the fact that his sister wanted to stop and help the guys that had nearly given him a concussion. "Hikari we really don't have time for that," he said.

"Taichi's right," Koushiro said.

"But..." Hikari said in a weak protest. She knew they were right, but she couldn't help wanting to help these two. She felt that she should and it wasn't simply because it was the right thing to do.

"Did you say Hikari and Taichi?" Kenta asked in mild awe as he looked up at the three.

"You're not saying that you didn't recognize them before are you?" the other boy said incredulously.

"Shut up, Kazu. I was just surprised!"

Kazu snorted. but let it drop as he looked back at the three who were staring at them in bewilderment and anxiousness. "Sorry, we kind of geeked out, but your costumes are amazing."

"Excuse me? I don't understand," Koushiro said, perplexed and a little unnerved by the awe filled stares of the two boys.

"You are definitely Koushiro. Wow, you've even got the curious look down," Kenta said excitedly.

"What are you talking about?" Taichi demanded.

"Dude, we should totally bring them along to meet the others. Talent like this should not go to waste and Takato will totally flip!" Kazu said excitedly, completely ignoring Taichi.

"Are you sure that's a good idea? We're going for you-know-what," Kenta said whispering the last part, though it was still loud enough for everyone to hear.

"Of course. Not even the Ice Queen will be able to protest, she'll be so impressed. Let's hurry up and get our cards."

"I suppose so..." Kenta said and he started to swiftly gather his cards with Kazu while the Chosen Children stared at them in astonishment, too stunned and confused to even move.

"Kazu! I'm missing a card!" Kenta called as he checked over his cards.

"What!? Which one?" Kazu asked as he made his way to his friend having finished collecting his cards.

"My Unimon!" Kenta cried out in despair.

"That one's not all that strong or rare. You could just buy a new one," Kazu suggested not understanding why his friend was so upset about the card.

"But this is the one Chitose gave me!" Kenta said frantically searching the ground.

"Oh..." Kazu said in understanding. Kenta had had a huge crush on the girl in the next class over from them for about a year now, but she had never given him the time of day, until she found out that he loved to play digimon and was actually quite good at it. After that they had found that they actually had quite a lot in common. Their relationship was still only in the friend stage, though, a fact that Kazu teased and Kenta lamented about.

"I think I have it," Hikari said, stopping Kenta from running around like a headless chicken. They both looked at her and the card she was holding out to them.

Kenta ran up to her and took the card from her reverently. He held it to his chest and then looked at Hikari with bright happy eyes. "Oh, thank you! I would have been in so much trouble if I'd lost it!"

"Uh, yeah." Hikari said a little startled.

"Great! Now that we've gathered our cards we can go show you off to the rest the gang," Kazu said as he grabbed a hold of Taichi's wrist.

"Whoa, whoa! Hold up! We don't have time for this!" Taichi yelled as he was dragged away. Kazu was stronger than he looked, and while Taichi was confident he could get out of his grip, he didn't want to end up hurting him, so there really was no other option than to follow along with his captor's plans.

"Taichi's right. We really need to be going," Koushiro said, trying to reason with them. It didn't work.

"Aw, come on! It's only for a few minutes. Besides, it's fine to be fashionably late to things," Kazu said easily.

"Fashionably late for what?" Koushiro said bewildered.

"The convention of course!" Kazu said, like it was completely obvious.

"What convention!?" Taichi yelled in exasperation. None of what this guy was saying was making any sense to him.

"He's really persistent isn't he?" Hikari asked from the back of the group by Kenta.

"Yeah," Kenta said.

"He kind of reminds me of a mix Daisuke and Miyako..." Hikari said thoughtfully before shrugging it off. She really hoped that whatever Kazu and Kenta wanted them for didn't take too long.

* * *

Daisuke, Ken, and Miyako walked in silence. It was a rather awkward silence, which was quite understandable, because for whatever reason, Daisuke and Miyako couldn't even open their mouths without saying something to irritate the other, even when they weren't trying to. It had gotten so bad that Ken had told the both of them to shut up in a loud angry voice that he never used, at least not with them.

That was about fifteen minutes ago and Ken was actually starting to worry. Neither one of them were very good at staying silent for long, and Ken was starting to worry that maybe he had offended them. As soon as the thought appeared he shook it from his mind. Daisuke wouldn't stop talking if he had been offended and neither would Miyako. Again it simply wasn't within their nature. Ken wondered if maybe that was the problem. Their personalities were amazingly similar in all the wrong places. They just couldn't help but clash sometimes. Unfortunately things seemed to have gotten worse and Ken just couldn't figure out why.

Miyako, meanwhile, was lost in her own turbulent thoughts. She and Daisuke had never been good friends, but they had at least been getting along well enough towards the end of last year. She had slowly begun to realize, particularly during the fight with BelielVamdemon, that Daisuke wasn't all that bad and that she had perhaps judged him too quickly. Now that he wasn't drooling all over Hikari and making himself look like like an utter fool, he seemed like somebody she might even want to get to know (she would never tell him that, though, not in a million years). That begged the question of, why was she acting so mean towards him? It was even worse than when they had first become Chosen Children.

She sighed quietly so as not to be heard and looked at Daisuke who was walking quite sullenly beside her. She already knew the answer to the question. It was through a huge mix of things that had simply been culminating. She hadn't told anyone what was bothering her, because she knew that they all had their own troubles too. Unfortunately, Daisuke was paying the price for her silence, because he was a stress relief. People didn't think it was too out of character when she messed with him and he always gave as good as he got, so she didn't feel guilty about verbally attacking a defenseless person... or at least she tried not to feel guilty. It hadn't been working out to well recently. She wondered if maybe it was time to talk to someone. It would have to wait though, because it certainly wouldn't be with these two that she would have this conversation.

"Er... Ken?" Daisuke asked in a quiet, hesitant voice. He wasn't afraid of Ken, that would be like being afraid of your own left hand, but he didn't fancy getting yelled at again either.

Miyako and Ken startled a little at his voice even if it had been soft and barely heard amongst the noise of the crowd walking around them. It had been so long, or at least long compared to normal, since anyone had said anything, that it was a little startling when someone finally did.

"Yes Daisuke?" Ken asked, in mild apprehension. He didn't think that he was going to start a fight, certainly not by addressing him, but the way that he had called his name made him a little wary of whatever it was that Daisuke might be thinking.

"I _really_ have to pee," he said.

Miyako and Ken couldn't help but stop walking and stare at him. It was so far from what either one of them had been thinking that it seemed almost out of place, though it certainly shouldn't have been. Miyako couldn't help the snort that she made which soon devolved into loud laughing. Ken was soon to follow and Daisuke could only look between the two of them like they'd grown a second head.

"What is wrong with the two of you. It's really not funny, I've been holding it for a while now, and it's really getting uncomfortable," He said and squirmed in place a little.

"S-sorry," Ken said as he got his chuckles under control. "I just wasn't expecting that. Why didn't you say so if you had to go earlier?"

Daisuke shrugged, "Because it seemed more important to find the Chosen Children. I thought I could hold it, but it's taking longer than I thought it would."

Miyako rolled her eyes at him, but kept her mouth shut and Ken turned back around, "we can stop for a-" he started only to stop abruptly and go rigid.

"Ken? Are you okay?" Daisuke asked as he put a hand on Ken's shoulder. Miyako looked at him worriedly.

Ken didn't move. He simply stared at the point ahead of him where he had seen... where he had thought he had seen... but it couldn't be possible, because the person he had seen had been gone. And yet he couldn't deny that face, the face of his dear friend and brother.

"Ryo..." he whispered and then he was off.

Daisuke had caught the name and could feel his eyes widening, because he knew what that name meant. When Ken took off, he wasn't surprised and merely ran after him with Miyako yelling confusedly behind them. He couldn't help being grateful for having stood his ground to stay with Ken, because whether this person was who Ken thought he was or not, he was going to need someone there for support.

They ran through the crowded street, dodging around people and desperately reaching froward, though all of them for something different. Ken chased the ghost from his past, hoping beyond hope that he could finally find him. Daisuke followed Ken, praying that if things went wrong he would be able to pick up the broken pieces of his friend that would be left behind. Miyako chased after her own heart and future, desperately trying not to be left behind.

The three watched as their quarry walked swiftly through the crowd until he finally ducked into an alley way. They followed and came face to face with a boy of about fourteen. He had brown spiky hair and brown eyes and a hard glare on his face. It was obvious by the way he carried himself that he was plenty capable of taking care of himself and anyone who came after him.

Ken's breath hitched when he came to a stop in front of the teen. He was almost exactly as he remembered, only older. Ken had nearly given up hope that he would ever find his dear friend who was like a brother to him. Considering his luck in the past he should have known that nothing was ever this easy.

"Who are you!?" the boy demanded and Ken's heart broke.

* * *

Takato sighed as he leaned back against the wall of the fountain. Jian was sitting on the wall with his elbow on his knee and chin on his palm, looking as if he were about to fall asleep. Little Shaochung, on the other hand, actually had fallen asleep about ten minutes ago and was currently leaning against Juri who was running her hand through the little girl's hair.

"Why didn't we just wait in the park?" Takato asked. He was incredibly bored and couldn't figure out what was taking so long. They had found the gate to the digital world in Guillmon's old hide out and he was sure that everyone wanted to see their digimon again. Of course it would be scary going to the digital world without any protection, but he couldn't see Ruki and Ryo worrying about that and Kazu and Kenta had already been to the digital world once without partners.

"Because we thought this was a better central location," Jian said with a yawn.

"I think it would have been better to meet in the park. It's not too weird seeing a bunch of people waiting and meeting up there," Juri said.

"Yeah, and it would have been more comfortable. There's no shade here," Takato said as he fanned his flushed face. It was the end of summer, but it was still very hot.

"Jian, when are the others getting here? I want to see Lopmon," Shaochung said, having woken from her very brief nap.

"I don't know, Shaochung. We didn't really give a time." Jian said.

"We were so excited that we forgot to tell them when to meet us," Takato groaned at this oversight on their part. Really the others couldn't be blamed.

"Does that mean they won't come?" Shaochung asked with a trembling lip.

"Of course not! They'll be here. We just don't know when," Jian said trying to calm his sister down.

"That's right! They want to see their partners too, so they'll definitely come! Then we'll be able to see Guillmon and the rest," Takato said with a smile.

Juri lowered her head sadly. She was happy that her friends would be able to see their partners again, but her own partner was gone. She could feel tears begin to well up in her eyes as she remembered Leomon. '_No Juri. You can't cry anymore. You have to be strong for him._' she told herself before blinking her tears away before they could fall.

Takato noticed her dropping mood and looked at her worriedly. "I'm sorry, Juri. I didn't mean to make you feel bad."

"No, Takato. It's not your fault. I can't just keep crying all the time. Leomon wouldn't want that and it's not fair to everyone else if you can't be happy or excited to see your partners. I'll be okay." She said waving away his apology. She meant every word she said. She knew she couldn't hold onto the grief forever. It was that grief and vulnerability that had made it possible for the D-Reaper to take control of her. She couldn't put her friends through something like that again. She needed to be stronger so she didn't hurt anyone again.

"Heeeey!" someone called from across the square and the group looked up.

Running through the crowd towards them were Kenta and Kazu, but they had someone dragging behind them. Takato noticed as they got closer that it wasn't only one person, but three, though two of them were jogging on their own while the third was being dragged. He couldn't really make out what they looked like, but he had to wonder why they were bringing other people to their gathering.

"What on earth are they doing?" Jian asked from beside him.

Takato shrugged. "No idea. We might be friends, but I don't understand what their thinking half the time. It's a good thing Ruki's not here."

Jian couldn't help but agree. She would not be pleased to know that a bunch of outsiders were being brought to their secret meeting. She was better than she had been, her personality mellowed by Takato, but she was still the "Ice Queen". Kenta and Kazu were probably the most used to getting her nasty looks for one thing or another.

When Kazu and Kenta got close enough for the rest of the group to see who they were dragging with them clearly, Takato's eyes widened and Jian wasn't doing much better. Takato had never imagined that he would see cosplay as realistic and well done before in his life. The three people with Kazu and Kenta looked exactly like life like versions of Hikari, Taichi, and Koushiro from the Digimon series. It was actually kind of creepy, how realistic they were.

"That was pretty much our reaction too," Kazu said with a grin at their stunned faces.

"I don't understand. Why are you all so shocked?" Juri said a little confused.

"You don't know?" Kazu asked incredulously.

"Know what?" Juri asked.

"Juri, they're cosplaying as characters from the Digimon series. And their perfect," Takato said still amazed.

"How did you even meet them?" Jian asked.

"We ran into them in front of the station," Kazu said nonchalantly.

"Yeah, and it hurt," Kenta said rubbing his left arm where a bruise was beginning to form.

"We figured even the ice queen wouldn't be able to resist seeing such magnificent cosplay," Kazu said.

"Did you even ask them if they wanted to come?" Jian asked with a frown as he saw the person dressed as Taichi rubbing his wrist.

"No, they didn't. They decided to drag us here forcefully. And just so you know we are still standing here. No need to act like we're not," Taichi said irritably. He was not a happy camper with being dragged all over the place.

"Oh, uh, sorry about them. They can be pretty impulsive," Takato said nervously. "You really do have amazing costumes, though."

"I'm sorry, but I don't think we quite understand what you're talking about," Koushiro said.

"Eh? What don't you understand?" Takato asked not really understanding what they didn't understand. Nothing that he said was particularly confusing.

"Jian, they have a digimon!" Shaochung said, interrupting the conversation and pointing to Hikari who was holding Gatomon.

The three Chosen Children froze, hoping that the little girl didn't want to try and hold the "stuffed" digimon.

"Uh, yeah, but it's just a toy Shaochung," Jian said, which made Koushiro furrow his brow at the wording. He didn't really understand why it would be necessary to point out that it wasn't real, unless... He looked to Hikari and Taichi to see if either of them had caught onto the wording, but they didn't seem particularly suspicious yet. Obviously they thought it was normal for little kids to think such things were real.

"So it's not like Terriermon and Lopmon?" Shaochung asked a little disappointed that the digimon wasn't real.

"No," Jian said a little nervously and looked towards the three cosplayers who had been listening to the conversation and looked a little suspicious. The rest of the Tamers were looking a little uneasy.

"Ahaha, kids these days," Kazu said and everyone looked at him weirdly.

'_Way to be suspicious, Kazu,_' Jian thought while he resisted face palming.

Takato decided it might be a good idea to change the subject and addressed the three cosplayers. "I didn't realize there was a convention in town," he said nervously as he fiddled with his goggles. He had never been a good liar, but he hoped he'd be successful at distracting them.

"Convention? What are you -" Taichi began a scowl on his face, but he was soon cut off by a small gasp from Hikari.

"Nii-san, look," she said pointing to Takato's waist. He did so and his eyes widened a little.

Takato looked down to see what they were pointing at and he nearly groaned in frustration. They had seen his D-Arc, which could easily mistake as a bad imitation of the Digivices from the show, except for the fact that it was real. Why did he have to get nervous and start playing with his goggles? His arm had effectively been hiding his digivice from view. He really didn't know what he was going to say if they asked where he had gotten it or worse, asked to see it. Where was Ruki when you needed her to scare people off?

"Is that...?" Taichi asked, making sure he was seeing things right. He had thought that it would be a lot harder to find the Tamers and yet they bumped right into them, or the other way around really.

"It looks like it. There's even a different look to it to account for the discrepancies of another dimension," Koushiro said. The Tamers had no idea what they were talking about, but they were beginning to realize there was more to these three cosplayers than simply being major fans of the show. None of them, however, would have guessed their true nature, though it was something that could not be disputed once it was said.

"It feels the same too," Hikari said and the other two stared at it for a moment before nodding their heads.

"Yeah. Looks like we actually found them. It was way easier than I thought it would be," Taichi said with a smile as he put his hands behind his head and leaned back a little.

"Erm, what are you talking about?" Takato asked a little nervously.

"They're talking about the fact that you're the Chosen Children, or at least some of them, that we were looking for," Gatomon said, deciding to speak up. It didn't really matter at this point, since they would find out soon anyway.

The Tamers' eyes widened and they turned to stare gobsmacked at the "stuffed" digimon in the Hikari "cosplayer's" arms. There shouldn't have been any digimon still in the human world and there certainly shouldn't be any more Tamers, but there they were holding a real life digimon, recognizing the D-Arcs and dressed like the characters from the Digimon series. That last one brought up theories that Takato was creative enough to think of, but in far too much denial to consider unless it was stated right in front of him.

"Jian, it is a digimon, just like I thought. I was right," Shaochung said excitedly. "Does that mean we can see Terriermon and Lopmon soon?"

Jian didn't answer, too surprised at finding other Tamers that currently had digimon. He was also excited at the prospect. If these people had a digimon with them, then it had to mean that the digital world was open and they would get to see their partners again.

"No way!" Kazu yelled.

"You're Tamers?" Juri asked in surprise.

"Not exactly," Hikari said.

"We call ourselves Chosen Children, not Tamers. Though from what I can understand they're similar to each other," Koushiro explained.

"When you say Chosen Children..." Takato began, but wasn't able to finish the sentence.

"y-you don't mean like..." Kenta started.

"..._the _Chosen Children?" Kazu finished when his friend stopped speaking from surprise.

Taichi frowned and huffed at yet again not understanding what was going on. "What are you talking about!? You keep mentioning weird things that don't make any sense as if we might actually know what's going on. Well we don't, so you'll have to explain it!"

The Tamers all blinked and went silent. If they really were the Chosen Children, then of course, they wouldn't understand and there was no way that if they weren't the Chosen Children that they wouldn't understand considering the accuracy of their "costumes". But that was a huge blow to reality for them to be the Chosen Children, because they were a part of a T.V. show. Nobody really wanted to think of that possibility even if they had dreamed up the scenario before. Dreaming something up and it actually being true were two different things. If anyone knew that then it would be Takato. And while things had turned out great for him, he got into a lot of trouble.

There was nothing for it though, because whether it was true or not, it was staring them in the face. The possibility was there and they couldn't _not_ find out what was going on. It was Jian who spoke first, breaking the silence that followed Taichi's demand. He would be the best to explain things other than Takato, but Takato would probably end up speechless from being in the presence of his heroes, if this turned out to be the real deal. And it was certainly shaping up to be that way.

"Well, digimon is a card game, but it's also a TV series," Jian explained.

"That's interesting, I wonder how they were able to be so accurate," Koushiro said.

"Er, well, my dad and several of his friends made the first digimon."

"What!?" Taichi exclaimed while Hikari gasped and Koushiro stared wide eyed at Jian. "Your dad _made_ the digital world?"

"Not exactly. He and his friends developed the program, but it was shut down before it could be fully developed. One of them didn't want to stop development and continued in secret. Eventually the digimon and digital world began to evolve on their own.

"Anyway, here, Digimon is a TV series about a bunch of Kids that go to the digital world and some of them are Taichi and Hikari and Koushiro and they look exactly like you..."

Taichi, Hikari, and Koushiro were silent. They understood what this person was saying. That they didn't exist in this world, which wasn't that surprising, except for the fact that according to this world they were fake. Simply the figments of someone's imagination. That was what was hard to take. It wasn't so much that they were suddenly questioning their existence. They knew that they were real. They were standing right there, so they had to exist. It was more that somebody knew about their lives without them knowing. How was it that they had become a TV show? How could their lives be open to be viewed by anyone? And most importantly how much of their lives were told and how much of it was real?

"H-how is that possible?" Hikari asked in a whisper, though everyone could hear her.

"Well, there are several theories on cross dimensional travel, that could explain such an occurrence, but their much to complicated to go into right now, and I don't fully understand all of them myself," Koushiro said.

"How _much_ do you know?" Taichi demanded. It was kind of creepy thinking that there was someone out there that knew everything about them.

"Uh, not too much. It just starts from your first trip to the digital world until you defeated Apocalymon and then there's a sequel which picks up three years later with the second generation first going to the digital world up until you defeat Bel- ...er... the final battle at the end of the year," Takato said stumbling over BelialVamdemon's name in hopes of not giving too much away to the first generation.

"Yeah, it doesn't really go into too much about your life outside of being a Chosen Child," Kenta said. This put the three Chosen Children at ease. At least their privacy wasn't completely ruined.

"Um, why are you here?" Takato asked a little shyly.

"Yeah and why do you seem to be looking for the Tamers?" Kazu added.

"Oh, right," Taichi said and looked at everyone seriously. "We're here because this guy name Kuroku..."

And so the three Chosen Children explained what had happened. Each one of them pitched in in case one of the others forgot something and Koushiro was happy to explain the technical aspect of everything. Even with everything that had happened it was still a pretty fantastical situation. The Tamers believed it, of course, but that didn't stop there from being a short moment of amazed silence once everything was out in the open.

"You said that you only needed four of us right?" Jian asked breaking the silence that had settled over the group.

"Yeah. Kuroku said it was because four of you have some sort of special evolution," Taichi confirmed.

"Well, we all know who those four are," Kazu said with a slight pout, knowing he wouldn't be able to go with them.

"Really?" Taichi said excited that they weren't going to have to figure it out themselves.

"Yeah. Takato, Jian, Ruki, and Ryo all have really special evolutions. They'll be the ones to go with you," Juri said. She was a little happy that not everyone would be going, because she knew that being the only one without a partner, she would be left behind, alone.

"Great! Er, which of you are which? We never quite got your names," Taichi said a little sheepishly.

"Ah! That's right! We completely forgot! I'm Takato and this is Jian, his little sister Shaochung, Juri, Kenta, and Kazu," Takato said and pointed to each of his friends as he said their names.

"Cool, I guess we don't really need an introduction do we?" Taichi said.

"Nope," Takato said with a grin. He was way too happy to see the characters from his favourite TV show in real life. Though he supposed they weren't simply characters, since they were standing right in front of him.

"Jian, will I see Lopmon again?" Shaoshung said as most of the talk flew over her head save for the part about someone getting their digimon.

"She makes a good point. Is this Kuroku getting all of our digimon or just Takato's and the others?" Kenta asked. MarineAngemon was really annoying, but he was still his partner and he had missed the little guy.

"Er, I don't know," Taichi said with a shrug of his shoulders.

"It wasn't exactly a top priority to know at the time," Koushiro said.

"Even if he doesn't, you'll all see your partners again. You're Chosen Children, even if that's not what you call yourselves, so you'll always be connected to the Digital World and your partners," Hikari said when she noticed the slightly glum looks.

Kazu, Kenta and Shaochung brightened considerably, but Juri continued to look depressed. When she saw Hikari looking at her worriedly she tried to smile, but it was wobbly and she had to bite her lip to keep from crying. This only caused Hikari more worry but before she could say anything they heard a shout from the crowd.

All of the Children looked up to see Yamato, Sora, Takeru and Ruki running towards them, Patamon clutching at Takeru's hat.

"Well, looks like we only have one more to go," Kenta said.

"These are all of the Tamers, then?" Koushiro asked,

"Yeah. We just have to wait for Ryo. We had all decided to meet up here before going to the park," Takato explained.

"Why didn't you just meet up in the park?" Taichi asked as if it was obvious, which it really was.

"I have no idea," Takato said.

"I wonder which group will find this Ryo person?" Hikari asked no one in particular as Takeru and the others reached them.

* * *

"I asked, who are you!?"

Ken, Daisuke, and Miyako stood frozen and didn't answer. What could they have said? Ken was completely lost. This was the person that had traveled with him and helped him and protected him while they were in the digital world, and he didn't remember him. And if he told him the truth about who he was, would Ryo believe him? They were in different dimension after all. How would he explain how Ryo ended up in this one, when he himself didn't know?

Daisuke was worried about Ken. This was going to be difficult for him. He had already lost Ryo once and then his older brother, and both incidents he blamed on himself. Even so, Daisuke knew that he had to let Ken take the lead on this. He would explain things as he saw best and if he decided to keep his identity from Ryo that would be his decision and Daisuke would respect it. Even if he didn't plan on interfering, he was glad that he had put his foot down on coming with Ken, because he knew that this was something he couldn't handle alone, and Daisuke was the only one who knew about Ryo. Ken would need someone to talk to and support him and Daisuke knew, at this point in time, he was the only one who could.

Miyako was confused. She had heard Ken say something - Ryo, she thought it was - and then suddenly bolt off. Daisuke was right behind him, and she didn't have any other choice but to follow. Of course she yelled at them and tried to figure out what was wrong, but she was ignored. She eventually gave up questioning them and decided to focus on running, because both boys were soccer players and she was a computer nerd, no matter how much time she had spent in the digital world.

When they had finally stopped she realized that they had trapped a boy a few years older than themselves, and she guessed that this was what they were running after. She couldn't see why though, and her confusion only increased when the boy spoke and Ken looked like someone had died, and Daisuke started looking more worried than she had ever seen him. It was frustrating to her to not understand what was going on. She had always been smart and was usually the first to know something, but she didn't say anything about it. Even if she didn't understand the situation, she did realize that talking was a bad idea right now and that it was all up to Ken to speak first.

Ken swallowed hard, trying to get some moisture to his bone dry mouth. He was nervous, more nervous, even, than when he was trying to invite everyone to the Christmas party at his house and he had thought that he was going to be sick then. Every time he opened his mouth to speak, nothing would come out, and he knew it was beginning to irritate the older boy.

"Well?" Ryo demanded and Ken flinched a little at the harshness.

He had been expecting it , of course. Ryo didn't remember him at all and they had just chased and cornered him. It still hurt, though. Unfortunately he didn't think he could answer him. What had he been thinking chasing after Ryo? Of course, he realized that if Ryo was here he was most likely one of the Tamers they were looking for, but that didn't make this any easier. If he talked to him like he didn't know him at all or tried to explain how he knew him, it was going to be difficult and it was going to hurt. He didn't think he could... There was no way he could do this...

Ken startled a little when he felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked back and saw Daisuke looking at him with a familiar look in his eyes. It was the look that said he'd be there. The same look he had when he was talking Ken out of going into his old base by himself, the same look he had when the Darkness had threatened to consume him during the final battle. Daisuke would be with him. No matter what decision he made, Daisuke wouldn't let go.

Ken swallowed and gave a firm nod to Daisuke that he understood the message before he turned back to Ryo who was looking both confused and irritated. Ken took a deep breath, held it for just a second, and then let it go.

"My name is Ken Ichijouji," he said and Ryo furrowed his eyes just a little. Ken ignored the possible recognition of his name and continued the introductions. "These are my friends, Daisuke Motomiya and Miyako Inoue and these are our partners, Wormmon, Chibimon, and Poromon, respectively. We're Chosen Children from another dimension who have been asked to find some people called the Tamers who will be asked to join us in saving yet another dimension."

"Different dimensions huh? And what dimension did you come from, the TV dimension?" Ryo said sarcastically.

Ken blinked and frowned, "The what?"

Ryo narrowed his eyes at Ken to see if he was telling the truth when he found that he was he shook his head, "Uh, never mind," he said before he let out a heavy sigh and rubbed the back of his neck. "Looks like it's time to save the world again."

"So, you _are_ a Tamer," Daisuke said a little relieved, before snapping his mouth shut remembering he was supposed to be letting Ken take the lead.

Ryo looked at him sharply. "You mean you _didn't _know?"

"Er..." Daisuke said before turning to his friend. "Ken?"

Ken rolled his eyes at his friend, but he had expected it. He was glad that Daisuke was letting him take the lead on this, but it would have meant more if Ken hadn't known Daisuke would have done the same thing in any other situation. Not that Ken minded; Daisuke was his friend and it was his job to help him out these sorts of situations. He really just wasn't good at explaining things like this.

Despite his desire to lead the conversation, Ken was nervous of the reaction it would cause, especially as Ryo didn't seem to remember him. He swallowed and tried to find courage in the fact that Daisuke was their with him, before he spoke.

"We had suspected that you were a Tamer, but... that was not the reason we followed you."

"Then why _were_ you following me?"

"When I saw you through the crowed, I recognized you," Ken said softly.

"Recognized me?" he asked in surprise. That was a possibility if they had come from this dimension, as he was quite famous amongst Digimon fans, but Ken wasn't from this dimension, if what the three were telling him was true, and considering they had said they didn't know that he was a Tamer meant that there wasn't a Digimon show where they came from that followed this dimension, much like the Digimon show here did.

He wasn't the only one that was surprised. Miyako hadn't known anything about this. The first she had ever even heard of traveling to other dimensions with humans was when Kuroku had told them about them. That Ken would know someone from another dimension was so unlikely that it didn't even register on the scale of possibility. What was the most surprising, though, was that Daisuke _wasn't_ surprised. Although perhaps that shouldn't have been as surprising as it was.

"About three years ago I went to the digital world alone, after receiving a digivice. It was after the first Generation went, but before Daisuke and the the others. While there I met Wommon, but I also met another boy, about three years older than myself," Ken explained. He took a breath before looking Ryo in the eyes. "That boy was you, Ryo Akiyama. You had been sent there much like myself, although you seemed to know more about what was going on that I did. You had a partner digimon, a Veemon, and the two of you helped Wormmon and I. We traveled together for a while and defeated our share of enemies. We were friends."

"He had a Veemon!?"

"Why didn't you tell me that part?"

"You knew him before!?"

"I was at _your_ digital world!?"

Veemon, Daisuke, Miyako and Ryo couldn't help their reactions, though Ryo's was the sharpest and most demanding. Ken decided to address Daisuke first, simply because he had told his friend everything in the past, and he didn't want him to be angry at him. He had waited this long for Ryo and his old friend didn't even remember him, so he could wait. Miyako's question had to have been rhetorical, because the answer was obvious. Ken supposed she was simply making known her feelings of surprise.

"It's not like I did it on purpose, I just didn't think about it. We never really talked about that time much either," Ken said to his friend.

"Hmmm... Okay," Daisuke said accepting the answer. It really wasn't that big of a deal, he had just been surprised and it seemed like something that would come up, but he supposed his friend was more focused on other things.

"As for you, Ryo, you were in our digital world, because it was your digital world too. You talked about things that had actually happened, such as being on a camping trip when the original Chosen Children defeated Diablomon," Ken explained.

Ryo was silent for a few minutes, thinking. It did make sense if he was from their world, why no records of him in this world existed until three years ago when he had been found. He realized that he owed Ken an explanation as to why he didn't remember him, when they appeared to have had a close bond and been through some rough times together.

"I wish I could say I remembered you, but I don't, not really. Maybe a faint whispering of the name, the slightest bit of familiarity in your voice... but our experiences, anything I knew about you, all of that is gone," Ryo said sadly as he looked at the pained look on Ken's face. He sighed, wanting to take the look away, but knew that he couldn't truly. But perhaps he could ease it a little.

"Don't take it personally. I don't remember anything from before a few years ago," he said. "I woke up one day in the park confused and scared because I could only remember my name and age. When they looked me up to try and find my family, they found nothing. I didn't exist. If I came from your world, that would explain that little anomaly, but at the time they had just chalked it up to my parents being dead, or me being abandoned. Eventually I was adopted... and that's pretty much it. What little I remember about you, is the most I've ever remembered."

There was silence once the truth was out. Ken was a whirlwind of different emotions. He was sad that his friend didn't remember him, happy that it wasn't because he didn't care, but because he had amnesia and didn't remember anything, and disgusted that he was happy that his friend had amnesia. He thought it must be painful for Ryo not to remember anything. Not to remember his parents and the place he grew up, to not remember his friend even when he stood in front of him. How could Ken be happy about such a thing? Ryo had probably gone through a lot of pain, was probably still in pain, because of his memory loss. He shouldn't be happy he didn't remember anything.

"I'm sorry," he said, although whether he was expressing condolences because his friend lost his memory, or apologizing for his private thoughts, he wasn't sure.

"It's not like it's your fault," Ryo said before smiling, "But maybe if I stick with you, I'll remember."

Ken smiled, hoping that he would. He had already decided that he would do anything to help his friend remember. Ryo had always taken care of him, it was time for him to return the favor. And if some small part of him was doing it for himself as well, so he would have his friend back, he decided it was okay. He couldn't get rid of the feeling, so he would try and accept it.

"Although I still don't know all the details on what we're supposed to be doing," Ryo said, hoping for an explanation.

Before Ken could open his mouth to talk, Daisuke darted forward and grabbed their hands and started dragging them towards the entrance of the alley way. The boys were too surprised to put up any resistance, and Miyako was still trying to process everything that had gone on to say anything when they passed her.

"You can explain it to him later!" Daisuke said. "But right now, we're going to find a bathroom, because I _still_ have to pee!"

Ken and Ryo laughed before Ryo took the lead and lead the trio to the Tamers meeting place, making sure to stop by the bathroom first. Daisuke, Miyako, and Ken did their best to fill him in on what was going on on their way and Ryo explained the Tamers special type of evolution, the Bio-merge, which Takato, Jianlian, Ruki, and he could do. He also made sure to tell them about the Digimon card game and tv show. They were all quite stunned by both the digivolution and the revelation that they were a source of entertainment, though they each thought of it a little differently.

Daisuke thought it was kind of cool that he was famous in this world, but also found it a little weird and annoying that his entire adventure had been shown to a bunch of strangers, including his many screw ups. Miyako thought it was a complete breach of privacy and was absolutely outraged and embarrassed even if the people of this dimension didn't know what was being shown was actually real. Ken was more worried about what they saw and if there was anything too private shown. He was already used to having people nosing around his private life, being famous and all, but that didn't mean that they were privy to everything.

Ryo did his best to assure them, that it wasn't everything and did his best to explain what was shown, though he didn't get everything or go into great detail, since they didn't have nearly enough time to before they made it to the water fountain where the rest of their friends were waiting.

"Finally, you guys made it," Taichi said.

"Yeah, sorry. We had to explain a few things first," Daisuke said with a shrug. "Is this everybody?"

"Yeah. These guys said that they were only waiting for Ryo," Taichi said.

"Took you long enough," Ruki said.

"Aw, did the ice queen miss me?" Ryo teased.

"Of course not. You just made us waste our time."

"Is everyone ready to go? We should leave as soon as possible," Koushiro said. Everyone agreed and the large group began making their way to the forest where the Chosen Children had appeared.

As they walked conversation started. Takato was still amazed that he was meeting with his favorite characters from Digimon and that he was actually talking to the two leaders who had inspired him, once he had realized digimon were real. Daisuke found it really weird that someone was looking up to him, as he'd never really had a lot of admirers, despite being the star player of his soccer team. Everyone was surprised by the revelation that Ryo was actually from another dimension and Kazu couldn't help joking about how he knew he was an alien. It wasn't all good, though, and Jian was the first to ask what the others seemed to be over looking.

"Are you going to go back to that dimension or will you stay with this one," he asked softly.

The mood turned somber.

"I... never thought of that," Takato said quietly looking at his older friend.

Nobody else had thought about it either, but now that it had been brought up everyone was on edge. Ken had been so happy with the revelation that his friend was alive, and now all he could think about was that he might lose his friend again. He wasn't so blind that he didn't see there was a pretty high chance that Ryo would choose this world. Ryo on the other hand wasn't sure what to do. He had been blindsided by the question, having been too stunned by the fact that he was from another dimension to really think of anything else.

"Aww, did you really have to bring that up? We were having so much fun before," Kazu whined.

"It is a plausible question. We don't know ho long we will be away, and as far as we know, this could be his only chance to go back to his own dimension, if he wishes," Koushiro said.

Ryo wasn't sure what he should do. For the longest time he wanted to remember who he was, to find his parents or any friends he might have had. Ken found him and he was already beginning to regain some memories, no matter how small they were, and if he went back he would probably remember everything. On the other hand, like Koushiro had said, he would likely not get another chance to hop dimensions. Whatever had brought him to this one, was probably a fluke, so if he chose to go back to his original dimension, he probably wouldn't be able to come back to this one. He would be leaving his new friends and family behind and everything that he knew. On the other hand, if he stayed here, he risked never remembering his old life and hurting his old friend. It was nerve racking to think about and he had no idea what he should tell everyone, who were still looking at him expectantly.

Fortunately he was saved from his dilemma for now, when Sora spoke up. "Um, this is where we left Kuroku and Clockmon, isn't it?"

The Chosen Children all looked around in confusion. It certainly looked like the place they had left Kuroku, but the old man was no longer there. In fact it looked like nobody had ever been there at all.

"Maybe, we remembered wrong? We are in a big group of trees and we weren't here for very long," Yamato said.

"It's possible, but unlikely," Koushiro said as he worked on his computer. Nobody actually remembered him getting it out, but the Tamers were the only ones who found it odd. The Chosen Children were too used to it to care. "I'm picking up traces of the dimensional and temporal disturbance just a little ways to our left out of the trees. Unless someone just happened to travel both through time and dimensions, either to or from that location within the last few hours, it must be where we came through."

"If that's the case, then where are they?" Miyako asked irritatedly. She had just been witness to a rather strange and tiring reunion between Ken and Ryo, and she was still a little confused about the whole thing, her stomach was beginning to hurt, and she felt like she was suffocating.

It was only at her last thought that she remembered that she was wearing her winter clothes in the middle of summer. How she had forgotten that she had no idea, especially because she had been wearing it in the past of her own dimension where it was summer, but now that she had noticed it, she felt like she was baking. She decided to take off her hat, scarf, and jacket. She instantly felt better, even if she was wearing a long sleeved shirt. Nobody else seemed to notice her actions, but Kosuhiro did decide to answer her.

"I have no idea," he said with a shrug.

Before anybody else could say anything they heard someone calling out to them. The group turned towards the voice and saw Mimi, Jou, and Iori making their way towards them. Mimi was in the lead, running and waving her hands in the air, presumably to get everyone's attention, though she continued to wave at them even when she did get their attention. Jou and Iori were walking much more slowly behind her.

"Hey guys," Mimi said as she stopped in front of the group, "Kuroku moved to a better spot. We came to wait for you, but you're already here."

"Is this everybody?" Jou asked.

"Yeah," Taichi said, and then remembered something he had been asked by the Tamers. "Do you know if Kuroku is bringing everyone's digimon through, or just the four that are coming with us?"

"All he said was that he was getting the Tamers digimon, he didn't specify which ones," Iori answered and all the Tamers who couldn't biomerge began to feel uneasy. They were hoping their partners were their, but their was also a huge possibility they wouldn't be.

"Well, I guess we'll just have to go to this Kuroku person and see for ourselves," Jian said.

"Yeah, and don't worry so much. If Kuroku doesn't bring them over we'll just have to find another way. If he can find a way to get them from the digital world, then we can too," Takato said, trying to cheer up his friends.

It worked a little, though Juri remained said and a little despondent. She had been slowly getting over her depression of Leomon being gone. Even when everyone else was talking about going back to the digital world and searching for ways that they could, she hadn't been too sad. It seemed like a dream or something that was so far out of reach, she didn't think that they would be able to do it any time soon. But now, it was a reality. They were all so close to seeing their digimon, or at least some of their digimon, and Juri knew that no matter which way it went she wouldn't be seeing her partner again.

Mimi, Jou, and Iori lead the group towards the place that Kuroku had moved to. As they drew closer, Takato started to recognize the area. He wasn't the only one, though. All the other Tamers recognized the area too. At first they couldn't quite place why, but soon they realized that they were headed in the direction of a place that they had visited quite often in recent months. They were taking a different path than usual, but it was impossible to not to recognize it, despite that fact. They were headed towards Guillmon's old hideout.

When the group stopped, they were indeed in front of Guillmon's old hide out. The Tamers all shared a look. The hide out looked the same as it had the last time they had seen it, which admittedly wasn't that long ago, so no natural changes would have occurred. There also wouldn't likely have been any kids around to do anything – they had been using the place for months successfully because nobody else used it. They had, however, thought that Hypnos might have done something. They had kept quiet about the piece of Digital Portal they had found, but Hypnos had ways of knowing and they were sure they would have figured it out not long after them, if they hadn't already figured it out before them. In fact this was the whole reason for the meeting in the first place. To discuss the portal and preferably come to a decision before Hypnos came to one for them.

The Chosen Children had noticed the look, but had decided to focus on a more pressing matter.

"Where exactly are Kuroku and Clockmon?" Taichi asked the question that was on all of the Chosen Children's minds.

"Oh, they're-" Mimi started but was cut off by a strange child like voice.

"Takato!"

Takato didn't have enough time to actually see what hit him – only a blur of red. He was sent careening backwards, but before he actually hit the ground he felt something wrapping around him and slowly begin squeezing his life away. Of course, once his mind caught up with what was happening he realized that the thing that had nearly crushed him was actually Guillmon and that he was being hugged, not murdered.

"Takato!" Guillmon called again with unbridled glee.

"Gu-Guillmon," Takato rasped out, both in joy and pain. "I can't... b-breathe..."

He immediately felt the arms retreating and he took the chance to take in several lung fulls of air. He looked up at Guillmon who was looking worried and apologetic and he couldn't help but smile. His partner and best friend was finally back and he couldn't help the tears that started to stream down his face. He had been afraid he would never see him again.

"Takato? Are you okay? I didn't mean to hurt you! Please don't cry!" Guillmon said, nearly crying himself at the thought of hurting his friend.

Takato just shook his head and wiped his face. "Don't worry Guillmon, you didn't hurt me. I'm crying because I'm happy."

"Oh," Guillmon said, but it was obvious that he still didn't get it.

Takato took a moment to look around at his other friends and saw that they were all having special reunions with their own digimon. The Chosen Children and their own partners were watching the proceedings, though Chibimon seemed particularly keen on making new friends and was running up to all of the digimon while Daisuke ran behind him, trying to calm him down, and blushing hotly. All the other digimon were their, except for Impmon and he supposed that was only because he had left to find Ai and Mako. Even little Culumon was there, and he seemed to be getting along great with Chibimon.

Despite all this, there was one person who was not happily reuniting with their digimon. Takato couldn't help but look sadly at Juri as she watched the reunion, looking like she was about to cry. He knew it was hard on her, having lost Leomon and being forced to watch everyone else reunite with their partners. She had been having a hard time since all of their digimon went back to the Digital World. He had recognized that she was sad when they talked about getting their partners back. When he'd told her that she didn't have to be a part of those conversations she had said that she wanted to, so that her friends wouldn't have to suffer the same sadness she did in knowing that they would never see their partners again. She was proving that she could be even tougher than Ruki in that regard.

"C'mon, Guillmon," Takato said softly and he and Guillmon made their way towards Juri.

"Hey Juri," Takato said, and she startled a little.

"Oh! Hey Takato. Guillmon, it's-it's really good to see you again," She said a little shakily.

Guillmon tilted his head. "Juri, what's wrong? You look sad."

"Guillmon!" Takato hissed and gave him a little bop on the head.

"Ow... Takato, why'd you hit me?"

"Obviously Juri's sad because of Leomon," he said trying to keep his voice low. Juri heard him anyway, judging by the little flinch she gave at the mention of her late partner.

"Huh? But-" Guillmon started, but he was cut off by another voice.

"Ah, there you are. You're Miss Juri Katou, yes?" An old strangely dressed man asked, and Takato assumed this must be Kuroku.

"Y-yes, but how...?" she asked a little confused as to how the man knew her name.

"Ah, well the digimon told me of course!" he said.

"Oh, I see..."

"I've come to give you something that I think you'll be wanting," Kuroku said and he held out his hands, which Takato notice were holding a white digi-egg with brown tiger like stripes going across it.

"I-I don't understand," Juri said.

"There is a universal law about digimon, that it's about time you learn. You see, digimon never really die," He said, egg still out stretched. Juri stiffened and Takato's eyes widened a little. "You see, when a digimon dies, their data doesn't disappear. They reform into their most basic components, which is the egg. They also keep their memories, unless they wish to forget, in which case, they are completely reformed."

Juri stared at the egg with wide scared eyes. "Is that...?" she asked, her voice shaking.

"Yes. This is the egg of your partner Leomon. I don't know how long it will take for him to hatch or to grow back into Leomon, but it is still him, and I doubt he chose not to remember. Digimon partnered to a human never chose to forget," Kuroku said and handed the egg to Juri, who excepted it with trembling hands.

She gently cradled the egg in her arms before she fell to her knees crying. "Oh, Leomon! I'm so s-sorry. I'll... m-make sure that.. y-you grow b-back. I'll take c-care of you. I promise!"

Kuroku nodded at the scene before making his way back to the front of Guillmon's old hide out. It really was quite lucky that a gate to the digital world was there. Digital world gates naturally weaken the dimensional barriers, though not to a dangerous level, and once it's closed up, the barrier goes back to normal. It is the best place to travel from. Briefly he wondered what effect so many people would have on their traveling. He had an idea of what could happen, but he decided that the best option was to simply wait and see. Right now he needed to call everyone together.

"Alright Everyone!" he called out, gaining everyone's attention. "I know you're happy to be with your partners, but there will be plenty of time to catch up later. Right now I need to make sure that the four Tamers that are going know what is going on. Has everything been explained to you well enough? Do you understand what you are being asked to do and what is at stake?"

Takato, Jian, Ruki, and Ryo all looked at each other before looking back at Kuroku and answering together, "Yes."

Kuroku nodded in acceptance. "Very well then. If everyone that is travelling would come together and those who are not, please stand back. There could be dire consequences if you are caught between this realm and the doorway to the next." Kuroku instructed.

All of the Tamers moved back a good distance at the warning. They weren't sure what could happen, but by the sound of Kuroku's voice, they were all imagining something involving a lot of pain and deformities. Only Shaochung needed coaxing by Lopmon to leave her brothers side and once she had, Kuroku began the incantation.

At first everything was just as the Chosen Children remembered it. They made sure to warn the Tamers about the feeling, so they would be prepared, and everything seemed to be going well. But then something did change. The winds were much more violent and the colors were moving much more swiftly than any time before. They all began to feel strange tugging sensations in their stomachs and it felt as if something was nipping and pulling at their clothes. They all grabbed onto who ever was next to them, not caring who it was, before everything went black.

* * *

**A/N: Finally! That took forever to get out! Once again I am super sorry for how long it took. Unfortunately I can't guarantee that the next chapter won't take as long, but I will try. It's going to be even harder to get them up faster once school starts in January, but I will try and I can assure you that no matter how long it takes I won't abandon this story.**

**Also, sorry if it sounds a little rushed in some parts, or the reactions aren't quite right. I did my best with the amount of time I had and with keeping the length manageable (though barely). **

**Anyway, I hope you enjoy and hopefully a new chapter will be out soon-ish.**


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